Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?
by MewLuna
Summary: Marceline is no longer an immortal seventeen year old vampire. Her body has turned thirteen, and it's up to Finn and Jake to help her figure out the mystery of what happened to her. Can she go back to normal? The clock is ticking and time is running out.
1. Chapter 1

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By Luna Mrow**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Adventure Time or this sweater I'm wearing. Just kidding, I'm not wearing a sweater XD Seriously, I don't own AT. I'm just a lumpin' fan XD**

**Author's Note:**

**This idea suddenly came to me. It's a multi-chapter fiction, probably going to be 3-4 chapters, not a long one. And don't worry, I have not forgotten about 'Adventure Time with Fionna, Cake, and Marshall Lee!'. So if you will, kindly read, review, and all that good stuff. Here's to the first chapter!**

* * *

><p><em>Saturday, July 7th, 2:28 A.M.<em>

"Raaaaa... hello?"

"Jake? Is that you?"

The magical dog yawned and rubbed his eyes a few times before picking back up the phone. "Ice King?" he asked in disbelief. "What the glob do you want? Do me and Finn need to go over there to the Ice Kingdom and kick your sorry behind _again_?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why are you calling me?" Jake demanded. He turned and looked at Finn, who was still asleep on his bed and hadn't woken up from the continuous phone ringing.

"You stole something from me," Ice King then hissed in his best (but still lame) way to sound threatening. "And I demand you return it to me immediately!"

Jake sighed. "Ice King, we didn't steal your underwear. It's on you, look underneath your blue dress."

"I'm not wearing a dress! It's a shirt that comes down to my ankles!"

"It's a dress, dude."

"Rawr! No! What you stole from me was not my underpants! Wait hold on —_shuffle, shuffle— _Oh good they are still here... —_shuffle_, shuffle— Alright! My underwear is still on and that is not what you stole from me! You and Finn stole my elixir, and it's crucial I get it back."

By now Jake was fully awake and holding the phone with one paw while he used the other one to get a sandwich out of the fridge. He waited until he bit down on a meatball marinara when he said, "Wefish didsh shteal ur anythoong."

"What?" Ice King cried in complete confusion.

Jake was courteous and swallowed. "I said we didn't steal anything. Now I'm going to finish this sandwich and go back to bed, if you call again, Finn and I will come over there and kick your butt."

"Wait don't hang up!"

"WHAT?"

"That sandwich, is the bread whole wheat?"

GRR. Jake hung up the phone and threw it from the dining room table to the couch. "I swear," he growled, "Ice King is so whacked in the brain."

* * *

><p><em>Saturday, July 7th, 8:16 A.M.<em>

"No way dude. He actually had the nerve to ask if your sandwich bread was whole wheat? What's the matter with that guy?" Finn laughed. The thirteen-almost-fourteen year old human boy proceeded to cook bacon on the skillet. "I didn't even hear the phone last night, I was sacked out. Slept like a baby though."

Jake scoffed. "A baby octopus," he added.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not sure."

"Alright then." Finn flipped the bacon and cracked a few eggs in another skillet beside the other one. "You know why I was so tired? Marceline took me flying through Ooo Thursday night. You should've seen it Jake, it was so math. Finally she had to go home because the sun started to set and we lost track of time. We barely made it back to her cave and when it was officially morning."

Jake nodded and sipped his coffee. Beemo kindly poured him some more and he smiled and patted his robotic friend on the head as a thank you. "So," Jake said casually, "why haven't I seen Miss Queen of Mean around? Don't you two usually hang out and stuff?"

"Well, yeah, but she's busy doing other stuff too," Finn replied.

"What kind of stuff?"

"You know, stuff. Adult stuff."

"Adult stuff?"

"Yeah, that stuff."

"She's only seventeen, or at least only looks seventeen. How much adult stuff can a teenager like her need to do?"

Finn turned the fire off the bacon and set it on a plate of paper towels, now putting his focus on the three eggs he was frying. "Well she's immortal dude. She's been seventeen, or however old she is, for well over a thousand years. Mentally she's an adult, therefore she has to do adult stuff."

Jake laughed. "I don't see Marceline as an adult dude, sorry. She might as well be your age."

The human boy scoffed. "Ha! I would've loved to see Marceline when she was my age back then. I can't imagine what it would be like if I was seventeen forever, can you?"

"Well seventeen in human years is really old, so no, I can't imagine being an old fart all my life." Jake morphed his face so he had multiple wrinkles across him. "Where's the prune juice?" he asked in an old man voice.

Finn laughed. "I'm just saying, it'd be cool to see Marceline young like me. We could hang out, I finally wouldn't be the younger one, you know? I'd probably be taller than her, too."

"Easier to smooch her."

"JAKE!"

The dog laughed. "I'm kidding man. Now serve me up some eggs brother. What time is it?"

Finn flipped the spatula in the air and caught it. "Breakfast time."

* * *

><p><em>Monday, July 9th, 1:42 P.M.<em>

There was a loud banging on the door of Finn and Jake's tree house. Jake opened the door and groaned in frustration. "Ice King," he groaned.

"I checked my whole domain! From my laundry basket, to my secret fortress, to Gunter's playhouse, to under my bed, and finally my pillow cases!" Ice King cried. He lifted his arms above his head. "I wasted my weekend trying to find my potion! Now give it to me!"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Look dude, even if I did have it I probably wouldn't give it to you."

"What? Why not?"

"You + magic elixir potion = bad news. Duh."

He started to shut the door. "Wait," Ice King said. "Jake, that potion was not evil. It was an age shifting potion. I was going to drink it so I would turn thirty years younger. If that potion falls into the wrong hands, we're in some serious trouble."

"Don't you mean you're in some serious trouble because you'll still be old?"

"Potato po-ta-ta, Jake, please! Help this old Ice King!"

Jake rolled his eyes. "So first you're accusing me and now you want my help?"

"I'm the kind of guy that rolls with punches."

"Right." Jake sighed. "Fine. Where was the last time you saw your potion?"

* * *

><p>Finn whistled happily as he proceeded to Marceline's cave. It was a surprise visit but who didn't love surprises? Okay, yeah, Marceline didn't like surprises, but whatever she never gets mad at him. Well, wait, she does gets mad at him, but never so mad she wants to kill him. So in some ways he's untouchable. Cool.<p>

He proceeded into the cave and onto the vampire's front porch. "Marceline," he called as he knocked on the door. "It's Finn. We haven't hung out since Thursday night, everything cool?" he yelled up. There was no reply. "Hmm," he huffed. He tried her door. It was unlocked. "Cool," Finn smiled, walking into her living room. "Marceline! It's me, Finn!"

Her house was completely dark (as expected) but Finn knew where her light switch was. He flicked it on and his eyes went wide. Her living room was a complete mess! The couch was clawed up, lamps were broken, everything was shattered and smashed on the ground. "Did you throw a party and not invite me?" Finn asked, "not cool Marcie." Finally there was a crash noise, sounding like it came from her upstairs bedroom. Finn was alarmed by the sudden crashed and headed for her stairs. "Everything okay?" he called.

When he was upstairs he headed to her bedroom and opened the door. Her room looked the same as her living room, everything was a complete and total no-doubt-about-it disaster. Now Finn was worried. "Marceline?" he called. He stepped into her room, carefully avoiding shards of glass. "Are you hurt? It's okay, I can help!"

_"Finn."_ The soft croaked whisper surprised the adventurer, but he followed where he heard the sound. He opened her closet and there in the corner was someone. "The light," the stranger said, "Get rid of the light."

"Oh." Finn turned off her bedroom light switch. Now he wasn't able to see but he knew her bedroom well enough to maneuver to her closet in the dark. "I'm here to help you," he said. "Reach out your arms and I'll carry you downstairs."

"Keep me away from the light," the stranger replied. Whoever it was it sounded like a little girl who was weak. The girl grabbed Finn's arms and he carried her against his chest with her arms and legs dangling.

Carefully, Finn walked out of the bedroom and was about to head to the living room. _Wait, I left the light switch on, _he remembered. "Hey, girl, are you hurt?" Finn asked softly. "If you're hurt I can help you, but I need a little light to see you, okay?"

"Bathroom," she breathed. "Go to the bathroom." The girl hugged herself against him tightly. Finn could feel her soft hair tickle his skin, and could smell her scent. She smelled good and he got overwhelmed for a moment before remembering where Marceline's bathroom was. He headed back into her bedroom and into the bathroom. "Set me in the tub," the girl said softly. Finn carefully paced to the bathtub and unhooked her cold fingers around his neck, gently setting her in.

"Girl, I'm going to turn the light on. It's okay," he assured. He slowly turned the knob of the light switch, stopping once he could make out the little girl's face. She was pale, her skin was a grayish blue, she had long ebony hair, and was wearing a black dress that was loose on her, looked like it was going to fall off of her. She was thin and small, much smaller than him, and didn't look younger than... him. She looked his age, actually. She also looked really familiar. Finn wondered why she was in Marceline's house. He suddenly came to the conclusion. "Are you... is... Marceline?" he gasped.

She opened her eyes and stared at him with dreary black orbs. "Help. Finn."

As soon as he realized who she was he was at her side and leaning over the tub. "Marcie! What happened? What's wrong with you?"

"My body," she mumbled. "It's reverted. I'm thirteen. I'm weak and I can't move."

"What do I need to do? Tell me!"

She reached out and her small hand went on his shoulder. "In my fridge, on the door, is a bottle of blood. I keep it for extreme emergencies. Bring it to me, please."

Finn didn't need to hear much more, he took off running down her stairs and into her kitchen. He opened her fridge, and low and behold, was the bottle of blood she was talking about. Something must seriously be wrong with Marceline if she needs to drink actual blood. She once told him blood was like medicine to vampires, they needed to drink it if they let themselves get too weak, sheets of red wouldn't help them. He headed back up the stairs, and was finally back in her bathroom.

"Here, Marceline, tip your head back, I'll give this to you," Finn said. She did as he told her and slowly began to drink the bottle of red blood. Finn held the bottle steady against her lips until she finally 'mmphed' to let him know that was enough. When he took the bottle back half of it was already gone. She licked her lips and he set the bottle down. "Are you alright?"

"I'm better," she answered. "My body was so weak I couldn't go anywhere."

"Marceline, why are you thirteen?" Finn asked. "What happened to you?"

"I don't know," she answered. "But I have to find a way to revert back to my body's actual age, seventeen."

"What will happen to you if you don't?"

"I don't know. All I know is that the weaker I am the more blood I have to drink, the more vulnerable I am." Finn grunted. He went back into her bedroom. "Finn? Where did you go?" Marceline cried.

He searched her bedroom floor and finally found a belt somewhere in the mess. He walked back into the bathroom and lifted her up, tying the belt around her dress so it wouldn't fall off." Come on Marcie, come with me. You can stay with Jake and I at our tree house."

Marceline shook her head to object. "No. I can't."

"You can," Finn confirmed. "And technically, I'm the older one, so you have to listen to me."

She was too tired to fight him.

**Author's Note:**

**Well, here's to chapter one! I'd love to hear what you think, reviews are much appreciated. Thank you for reading!**

**~Luna**


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By Luna Mrow**

**—2—**

* * *

><p><em>Monday, July 9th, 7:12 P.M.<em>

She was asleep in his arms the whole way home. Finn was thankful that it was dark and he didn't run into anyone he knew, because his face was probably so red it'd put a tomato to shame. What would he even say if someone saw him carrying a small fragile looking girl? They'd probably be suspicious of him because at a first glance Marceline doesn't look asleep she looks _dead_... well _more_ dead than usual. Plus, she would kill him if he let anyone see her like this. She never actually told him that but he knew she'd be upset.

When Finn arrived at his tree house he set Marceline down in a wheelbarrow in his garage. She stirred in her sleep and mumbled something unintelligible. "I'll be right back, Marcie," he whispered. _Please don't let her wake up, _he thought to himself. After one more glance at the sleeping vampire, Finn trudged up his stairs and entered into his house. "Jake? You here?"

He was still mentally debating if he should tell his best friend about Marceline. Jake was still uneasy about her, and she did provoke him a lot. But Jake would have to understand Marceline is in trouble, right?

"Hey there," a kind voice greeted.

Finn turned around and saw Lady Rainicorn in the living room, holding a hot cup of tea. "Oh, hi Lady," Finn smiled. He then remembered vaguely about Jake telling him about Lady Rainicorn having dinner with them. "How are you?"

"I could be better but I won't complain. How are you? I haven't seen you around the Candy Kingdom for some time."

"I'm great," Finn replied. _I've got an unconscious vampire in a wheelbarrow in my garage, _he thought to himself. He needed to hurry, if Marceline woke up she'd try to leave and he knew she was too weak for that (and too stubborn to listen to him). "Say, where's Jake?"

Lady Rainicorn took a sip of her tea. "He's in the kitchen," she answered.

"Thanks. Nice seeing you," he smiled, turning towards the kitchen. When he went in he saw Jake standing over a large pot. "Hey man."

Jake turned around. "Do you have any idea where we keep the cumin?"

"The what now?"

"The cumin. It's a spice."

Finn then noticed all of the cabinet drawers were left open. "Man, you made a mess trying to find cumin?"

"It's for my soup," Jake defended. He dipped his wooden spoon in the big pot and tasted the liquid. "Man! I need to cumin up in here! Anyway brother, what's up?"

_Moment of truth, Finn. Tell him about Marceline. You know you can't lie to him, lying is wrong. _"Uh," Finn stammered, "I was just, uh, wondering..."

He trailed off and Jake began to throw in chopped carrots and onions. "Wondering what?" he asked.

"Wondering..."

"Yes?"

"If..."

"Yes?"

"If we keep cumin in the attic!" Finn exclaimed.

Jake paused in throwing in vegetables. "Cumin in the attic," he mused. "That makes absolutely no sense. And yet, it makes perfect sense because the attic is a perfect place to keep cumin! Stay there bro." The dog then stretched himself out of the kitchen and into the upstairs bedroom, and Finn could hear him open the hatch to the attic.

"I've got to hurry!" Finn exclaimed. He raced back into the living room and back into the garage, thankful to see Marceline was still asleep. He threw a blanket over her and wheeled her up the stairs and into the living room.

"What's in there?" Lady asked curiously.

"Uh... garden tools!" Finn cried. As he was wheeling to the kitchen he accidentally bumped into the couch, making a pale white hand fall off the side.

"AHHH!" Lady Rainicorn screamed.

"GARDEN TOOLS!" Finn shouted. He scurried and wheeled Marceline to the kitchen and then up the stairs to his bedroom. He took the blanket and Marceline in his arms and then walked out into the balcony, where they had the ship installed as a lounging area. He settled Marceline on the couch and then sighed in exhaustion. "We made it Marcie."

She stirred in her sleep once again, making a soft whine sound. Finn smiled. Marceline was almost acting... cute. You know, for her. Usually she was mean, talking smack, making sarcastic quips and scaring Jake. But now she was asleep and looked a little adorable. He felt his face grow hot again and he turned away. Jake would know something was up if he saw him blush.

Finn barely made it back into the bedroom when Jake came back from the attic. "I found some cumin, dude," he said happily.

"Really?" Finn asked in disbelief. "Wow."

"Now I have the ingredients to make this soup... _spicy_," Jake said dramatically.

Finn laughed. "Cool dude. Call me when it's ready."

* * *

><p><em>You're trapped, Marceline.<em>

_How does it feel, Marceline? _

_Powerless. Weak. Controlled. _

"Stop it!" she screamed. She rose up and tried to lunge forward but the chains around her wrists snapped her back. She fell on the cold ground and tried to find the voice in the darkness. Everywhere was black. She couldn't see a thing. The simple chains around her wrists, she couldn't break through. Weak. No, no, she wasn't weak! "AAAH!" she snarled as she tried to pry the chains off of her.

_You're no stronger than a human. _

_You're no better than a human. _

_You're fragile like a human. _

"SHUT UP!" she roared. The voice isn't coming from anywhere, the voice is inside her head, taunting her. Her breathing becomes erratic as she tries to free herself from her chains, desperately trying to find some kind of light out of the darkness. Her wrists are burning and she knows she's rubbed them raw but she can't stop. She has to keep trying.

_You call yourself a queen? _

_You're no queen. _

_You don't deserve to be queen any longer. _

The voice in her head won't stop. She desperately tries to cover her ears, shuts her eyes tight, tries to think of something to get her mind off the pain.

_Say goodbye to everything you love, Marceline._

_It's all coming to an end, Marceline. _

_Everything you know is being stripped from you. _

"No!" she screamed. "No I won't allow it! I'll stop you! I'll find you, and I'll kill you! I'll shut you up!" Once again she's struggling with the chains and she's grunting and yelling in pure frustration and desperation as she does so. "I'll break free!"

_Goodbye, Marceline. _

_Goodbye, Marceline. _

_Farewell, Marceline._

* * *

><p>Her eyes snapped open and she started yelling, every curse and swear in the book leaving her mouth, until a warm hand clamps down on her lips to muffle her yelling. "Mmph! Mmph!"<p>

"Marceline, it's okay, it's okay!" Finn exclaimed. "There's nothing to worry about. You're with me, okay, nothing is wrong."

His words were calming and she settled down. "Mmph."

"Can I take my hand off your mouth now?"

"Mmph." She nods yes.

Finn carefully lifts his hand off her mouth. "If they smell like bacon it's because of my new bacon scented lotion," he informed. The first thing she does is lift her hands up. Her wrists are fine. No bloody marks, no raw wounds, just pale and thin wrists. Finn sits down on a lawn chair beside her. "So I'm guessing you've got questions." She nods. "Great. I've got answers."

Marceline sat up on the couch. "What time is it? And if you say adventure time I'll pop you in the mouth."

He laughed. "That's me and Jake's thing. It's 11:00."

"At night?"

"No... in the morning?"

She's surprised to hear this. "What am I doing up this early?"

"Well, you've been asleep for almost a day now, so..."

"What day is it?"

"Wednesday."

Marceline is in disbelief. "Glob..." she muttered. "Finn, tell me everything that has happened. What happened after you set me in the tub at my house?"

"You asked me to bring you some bottled blood from your fridge and—"

That was it. "Crap," she hissed, interrupting him. "Finn, how much blood did I drink?" He seemed confused she would ask him that. "Finn." Marceline's voice had no trace of humor whatsoever.

"Half the bottle I think." Marceline groaned and put her face in her hands. "Hey, Marcie, are you alright?"

"Never let me drink that much blood ever again," she told him.

"But I thought it helped you."

"It did."

"Then what's wrong?"

"When I drink that much blood so fast it gives me nightmares and on rare cases hallucinations."

"Whoa. Cool. It really gives you nightmares?" Finn inquired.

Marceline gave him an unamused look. "I'm guessing I still look thirteen?"

Finn nodded. "You want to see? I've got a mirror."

"Vampire, remember? I don't have a reflection." She blew a strand of ebony colored hair out of her face.

"Oh. Well, here, I can give you a self portrait and draw what you look like."

"Finn, I've seen your artwork, it looks like crayons threw up squiggles."

"Ah you're sweet." Smiling, Finn sat up and went in his bedroom to get his drawing stuff.

Marceline rolled her eyes at her failed attempt to insult him. While she was alone she inspected herself. Apparently what used to be her shirt now fit her like a dress, and she vaguely remembered Finn tying a belt around her so the shirt wouldn't fall off. Great, that means most of the clothes in her closet wouldn't fit her. She inspected her hair. The soft strands were shorter, only coming down to her solar plexus instead of her knees. "I should wash my hair," she mused. "Glob, I should take a shower."

Finn came back and sat back down on the lawn chair. "Stay still."

"Whatever," she huffed.

Five minutes passed and Finn continued to scribble and color with a red crayon on his piece of notebook paper. "And... done." He held up the paper.

"Finn, you took a picture of me, cut out my face, and glued it on a picture of a little girl from your magazine." Marceline laughed. "Loser. What were you drawing?"

He laughed. "I was just drawing a big red blotch. Figured you could use a snack." Finn handed her the paper. She put her fang on the crayon blotch and in a matter of seconds the paper turned a dull gray. "Feeling better?"

Marceline smiled. "Thank you, Finn."

* * *

><p><em>Wednesday, July 11th, 4:48 P.M.<em>

She finally had enough lying in bed. She needed to get up and stretch her legs. Slowly she walked into Finn and Jake's room and then started to trudge down the stairs. Marceline wasn't even going to attempt to fly, that takes strength and that was something she was low on. When she was down the stairs she saw Jake on the couch playing video games with Beemo. "Hey Jake," she said casually. The dog was lucky tonight, she decided she was going to be civil to him.

Jake looked up from his gaming. "Well hey there cutie," he cooed. "Where did you come from?"

Suddenly, all the civil she was ready to show him was burned to crisps. "_Excuse__me_?" —_HISS!—_

He didn't seem perturbed by her hissing. "Where did you come from? Are you lost?"

"Jake, if you keep talking to me like that I'll rip your head off!"

"How do you know my name? Do you know Finn? I can help you little girl."

Marceline's eyes went wild. "_LITTLE GIRL?_" —Hiss!— "Jake, I am going to—"

And just as quickly as water puts out fire, Finn put out Marceline's death threat. He was suddenly in the room, having run from the kitchen, and before she could finish her sentence his hand was on her mouth... again. "Janet! I found you!" Finn exclaimed.

Now her rage wasn't on Jake, it was on Finn. "Mmph!" she exclaimed. Finn ignored her and while keeping one hand on her mouth, used his other arm to easily lift her petite body over his shoulders. "MMPH!" Marceline cried. She couldn't fight him. Was she really THAT weak?

"Dude, who is she?" Jake asked.

"This is Princess Bubblegum's, uh, cousin. Janet." If Marceline wasn't going to kill Finn for holding her down, she'd kill him for calling her Janet. Really? That was the name he came up with under pressure? "Anyway, we were playing hide and seek, and as you can see I found her. I think we'll go into the kitchen and eat some bread. You can keep playing video games."

The dog sat back in his seat. "Alright man. I didn't know PB had a cousin."

"Neither did I, ahahahahaha. Bye now." Finn literally ran back into the kitchen and set Marceline down on the kitchen counter. "That was close!" he exclaimed.

Finally her mouth was free. "EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" Marceline hissed angrily.

"Okay, okay, calm down! I haven't exactly, you know, told Jake that you're staying here."

"How can he not notice I was in his house for nearly two days? Or even recognize me! I'm thirteen but that doesn't mean my whole identity has changed!"

"Well, he's not the type of dog to notice things immediately or to recognize people. And for some hideous reason he agreed to help Ice King so he's been spending his days out with that nerd." Finn put his hands on his hips. "So, you want a sandwich?"

She regarded him with a glare, even scary despite the fact she was younger. "Finn. I'm not just thirteen. I'm weak. I'm awake during the day. I was weak enough that you could drag me into the kitchen!"

"I do workout sometimes," Finn muttered under his breath.

"Whatever is happening to me, I think it's more serious than we think. I think... I think whatever turned me thirteen is also killing me."

There was no humor in her voice. She was dead serious. Finn stopped smiling and his eyes grew worried. "What could possibly have done this to you?"

"I don't know."

"Oh come on Marcie. You've been alive a long time, you've gone to parts of Ooo no creature has dared to venture, surely you learned SOMETHING along the line."

She opened her mouth to quip at him but shut it quickly. "Hmm." Finn decided to make her thinking time his sandwich making time. While he made himself a tuna sub the vampire sat on the kitchen counter and thought hard about what he said. Finally when he was sat down and halfway through his sandwich she had a rough idea. "Elixir."

"We only have orange juice and water."

"No, you weenie, an elixir could have done this to me. You know, a liquid elixir, potion, whatever you want to call it. I've heard tale of old time wizards and sorcerers mixing up powerful elixirs. However, they were usually done for common illnesses, like colds, fevers, headaches, stomach flu, you get the idea. They would make the potion and sell them to their town."

"So, you think a wizard or sorcerer made an elixir that can revert age? That's a little more serious than fixing a runny nose."

"Which means whoever made that elixir had to be really powerful." Marceline brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "But... I don't remember ever drinking an elixir, let alone noticing anything funny."

Finn finished off his sandwich. "Well, it's the only lead we have so we should take it. What time is it?"

"No."

"Ah come on Marcie!"

"NO."

"Just once."

"Forget it."

"One time."

"Uh-huh."

"For me?"

"As if."

"Please?"

"Fine. Once."

"Yes! What time is it?"

Marceline rolled her eyes. "Adventure time."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Whoo hoo! XD **

**I just wanna say thanks to all the kind reviews I received. Thank you, thank you :D **

**Um, not much more to say I suppose. Oh, right, Christmas is coming up so I hope y'all have a fun holiday. Eat gingerbread like there's no tomorrow! Chug that eggnog! Rip those presents! Review my story! XD Ahahaha I'm just being silly. It's in the job description ;D**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

**~Luna**

**P.S. I know Lady Rainicorn doesn't speak English and speaks Korean. I don't know Korean so the only compromise in the story is Lady R speaking English. I suppose I could have her speak Korean, but then I'd have to go to translation sites and do unnecessary work. This is a fan made fiction. Anyway, just a future note for everyone. Merry Christmas.  
><strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By Luna Mrow**

******—**Quick Heads Up**: A lil language inside**—****  
><strong>**

**—3—**

* * *

><p><em>Thursday, July 12th, 9:49 A.M.<em>

"You didn't have to drop me off at the Candy Kingdom, Jake. It's really sweet, though," Lady Rainicorn smiled.

Jake shrugged to act like it was no big deal. "I was on my way to the Ice Kingdom anyway, sweet-beans." He stretched his body all the way up to Princess Bubblegum's bedroom window and Lady Rainicorn followed him. The princess of the Candy Kingdom was waiting at her bedroom window.

"Hello Jake," Bubblegum greeted, "where's Finn?"

"He's with your cousin."

A curious and confused look came over Bubblegum. "My cousin?" she asked.

"Yeah, your cousin Janet. She's really pale and thin. You know you should really feed her some more. For glob's sake, she's staying with you in the Candy Kingdom." Jake gave Rainicorn a quick kiss, "You two have fun now."

"Wait, Jake, I don't have a cousin named Janet," Bubblegum pointed out.

"Is it Jenelle?"

"No."

"Jane?"

"No."

"Jackie?"

"No, Jake**—**"

"Is it Jake?"

"NO! I don't HAVE a cousin!"

"Oh..." Jake replied."Then... who's the girl at my house with Finn?"

"I don't know," Bubblegum answered.

A few awkward moments passed.

"Jimmy?"

Bubblegum smacked her pink colored palm to her forehead.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile...<em>

"Oh come on Marcie. You don't look that bad. In fact, you look great."

"That's what every guy says when they wanna get in a girl's pants."

Finn blinked in confusion. "But I have my own pants. Why would I want to get in yours?"

Marceline smacked her pale palm to her forehead. "For being thirteen you're really naive." She shook her head and looked down at what she was wearing. None of her clothes fit her anymore. Her pants were long enough to be curtains and her shirts were loose enough to be dresses. She was also recovering and Finn wasn't about to let her leave his house (plus she was too weak so he could stop her). Even though Marceline was more of a rough n' tough girl, she still was a girl, which meant wearing the same shirt for three days straight wasn't cool.

To solve her clothing dilemma, Finn dug around in his closet and found an old top of Jake's that was short sleeved, black, and had a neon green paw print on the front. The adventurer also had some old worn out green tennis shoes that would fit her and as far as undies went... well... she just kept the pair she had on. Jake's shirt fit like a dress but wasn't so loose it needed a belt like the previous one.

The vampire never actually had a problem with the clothes until she found out the shirt was Jake's. "There is NO way my pride has been so reduced that I have to wear DOG clothes."

But the thought of wearing her same shirt a fourth day in a row was more gross, so she grudgingly put on the top, which lead to her perverted joke, which lead to Finn's confusion and stating he had his own pants.

After the fashion drama was over, the two prepared to set out where the wizards and potion makers resided in Ooo. "Beemo printed me out a map for us to follow. The wizards live over the mountains, and according to the map we can take two routes. The first one is through a mountain pass that was set up for tourists that used to use it thirty-something years ago. It hasn't been used in awhile, so it might be dangerous."

"And the next one?" Marceline inquired as she twirled a lock of hair between her fingers.

"... we could just walk around the mountains, I guess," Finn finished lamely.

She scoffed. "And how long would that take?"

"Probably awhile."

"So, why didn't you just say there's one way to the wizards, through the mountain pass?"

"I don't know, I guess I just liked sounding important." Finn rolled the map up and put it in his back-pocket. "It's still day-time, are you sure you don't want to wait until nighttime?"

Marceline nodded and floated to the door. She was only able to lift herself a foot or so off the ground. _Try not to hover,_ she reminded herself, _save your energy._ "The longer we wait the worse I'll become. Plus, no offense Finn, but I'd rather go outside than spend another day in this tree house. It smells like butt."

"Whose butt?" Finn asked.

"I don't know!"

"Well is it Jake's butt or my butt? Or does it have a robotic smell like Beemo's butt? Because I've noticed if it smells like my butt than it has more of a citrus-like aroma, whereas Jake's butt smells like meat. Mainly bacon. He loves bacon. Anyway, whose butt?"

The vampire growled. "Never mind! Just get your butt out the door!" She was surprisingly able to shove Finn out the front door, and then took her sun umbrella and stepped out herself. _Note to self, never ask Finn why his house smells like butt._

* * *

><p><em>Thursday, July 12th, 10:00 A.M.<br>_

Things had been weird lately for poor Jake. He hadn't spent much time with his bro, and for some unfathomable reason spent his time with the Big Nerd Ice King instead. He made his way to the Ice Kingdom and Gunter let him inside the ice-crystal castle. "Wat-wat-wat," Gunter greeted.

"Sorry Gunter, I didn't bring the pretzels."

"Wat-wat-wat-wat-wat!"

"I know, I promised I would." Jake sighed, "Do you ever get weird feelings, Gunter? Like your life is out of its normal cycle? Out of whack?"

"Wat-wat?"

"Yeah, exactly."

The two's conversation about life and its challenges was interrupted by the big nerd. "Ah, Jake, I'm glad you're here. Are you ready to go?" Ice King asked. He took out the map he printed from his crystal computer. "According to the map there are two ways we can get to the wizards. There's a dangerous mountain pass we can cross over."

**...**

"Or?" Jake asked.

"Oh, or I suppose we could walk around the mountains," Ice King replied. "How silly. Why don't we just fly?"

"Man, I'm not going to spend my day flying over some mountains. That's not cool. I can't even fly!" Jake barked.

"Ah, yes, but that's why I'd carry you." Before Jake could object Ice King flapped his white beard and flew over and picked him up, descending out the window just as quickly. "You're in charge during my absence, Gunter!"

Gunter blinked and waddled over to the Ice King's drum set. "Wat-wat-wat." Which in penguin talk, meant "let's trash this joint."

As you can imagine, Jake wasn't too happy about being lifted into the skies and being held onto Ice King. Plus, his scraggly beard kept hitting him in the face. Not cool. "So let me get this straight; we're going to where the wizards live so you can get another one of your age potions that you lost in the first place? The same potion you originally accused me and Finn of stealing? Now you're giving up on finding it and trying to get a new one without regard to the repercussions you could face in losing the original one?"

The Ice King stopped picking his nose. "Wha? All I heard from that was we're, wizards, so, get, your, first, potion, accused, Finn, stealing, face."

Jake growled. "WHAT ABOUT YOUR OTHER AGE-SHIFTING POTION? Do you have any idea what happened to that one? Why you need to get a NEW one?"

"Oh." Ice King giggled. "Why didn't you just say that, you silly goose. If you want I can tell you the story."

_43 seconds later..._

"Well?" Jake asked.

"Well what?"

"Tell me the story!"

"Oh! You want me to tell you a story? Silly goose, you could've just asked." Ice King cleared his throat and began to tell his story:  
>"Once upon a time I was looking in the mirror thinking about how old I was. So, I got on the web and looked around, like a cougar finding its prey. I finally found an advertisement to a magic convention and I thought there was bound to be a potion there.<p>

So after I put on my best robe, I flew down to the convention. I looked around but there wasn't anything I truly desired or could afford. I had a budget, ya know?

Anyway, I finally found a young man at a booth and he was selling a youth potion. But that wasn't the best part! He was selling it two-for-one! Seriously, how many two-for-one deals does an old Ice King like me find? So I purchased the two youth potions from the young man, and he even said he'd charge me half-price if I did him a favor! He told me to send one of the potions to a girl, and I could keep the other one. The girl he told me to send the other potion to wasn't a princess, so I just had one of my ice monsters do it.

The next morning, my potion was gone, I called you and started freaking out, then ransacked my whole kingdom over the weekend, and now I'm on a quest to find the wizards with you. The end."

When Ice King finished his story Jake's eyebrows wrinkled in deep thought. "So... who was the girl he wanted you to send the potion to?"

"Mhm, I forgot her name. I think it was... Marmalade."

"I don't know a Marmalade."

"Oh, maybe it wasn't Marmalade. Mar-mar-mar... oh! Marceline. Yes, the girl's name was Marceline."

Jake's face contorted into shock and horror. "Marceline as in the _VAMPIRE__ QUEEN_?"

"Yes! That was it, Hooray!" Ice King cheered.

"What did he want with Marceline?" Jake demanded.

"Well, he obviously wanted to give her the potion. I'm pretty sure she got it, my ice monster said he delivered it to her. He put it in her fridge for her and everything. He's a good ice-monster. It's too bad he melted. Oh, what a cruel world."

Jake had many questions. "Who was the man who sold you the potions?" he asked.

Ice King shrugged. "He never said. He wore a dark green cloak and talked like an old man. Enough about that. We've got another good two hours of flying, let's talk about something fun! ... do you wanna talk about girls?"

Jake rolled his eyes. There was definitely something going on here. And he really didn't want to talk about girls.

* * *

><p>"So really, if you had to choose to be another fantasy creature besides a vampire, what would you choose? You only had to be the creature for a day. You're even allowed to choose a mermaid. I would choose a dragon. How awesome would it be if I was a fire-breathing dragon for a day? So awesome. Anyway, what would you choose, Marcie?"<p>

The vampire girl smiled. "When did you start calling me Marcie? And when did I start letting you?"

The human boy beside her smirked, "You like it when I call you Marcie, Marcie."

"Well, I guess it's better than Janet. Really, that's the name you come up with under pressure? Janet?"

Finn laughed. "It was the name of my first pet goldfish."

"You had a pet goldfish? Why? You have Jake."

"Jake isn't my pet, he's my brother, my bro, my best friend for life."

"So, isn't a little odd that you have a dog as a best friend and at the same time a pet goldfish named Janet?"

Finn's eyebrows furrowed as he thought about her question. "I guess it's a little odd," he finally admitted. "But that's not important. What creature would you want to be for a day, _Marceline?_"

His sarcastic tone when he said her name made her scoff. "I guess," Marceline mused, "I would have to choose... mhm... human." After she said that the adventurer walking beside her starting laughing. "What? What's so funny?"

"Seriously, what would you choose?" he chuckled.

"Human." She looked at him seriously.

Finn stopped smiling and instead regarded her with a confused expression. "Why?" he asked rather plainly. "Why would you want to be just like me?"

"I don't know," Marceline sighed. She reached her small pale hand out and brushed Finn's cheek. "Because my skin would be warm," she mused. Her hand drifted down to his jaw line and then brushed along his neck, unsnapping the straps of his hat. "Because I'd have a pulse." Her fingertips lingered on his neck and then went to his chest. "A heartbeat." Her hand stayed on his chest. A few dead silent moments passed and then Finn put his hand on hers and lifted it off his chest.

"Do you miss it?" he asked in a low voice. It was almost as if he thought if he talked too loud he'd snap her out of her musing trance.

"A lot more than I want to." She took his hand now, and put it on her chest. "What do you feel?" she inquired. "There is no heartbeat."

"No," Finn agreed. "But there is a heart."

She took his hand off of her and the two ceased to have contact. "I'm starting to get weak again," Marceline informed, changing the subject. Finn couldn't blame her, the subject of humanity was a tender one for her, even if she wouldn't admit it.

"I packed the bottle of blood you had in your fridge," he offered. "You want some? I'll make sure you don't drink half the bottle."

Marceline knew she shouldn't, but when Finn mentioned the blood she could feel her body yearn for it. Then she remembered the nightmare she had, the voices in her head that taunted her. The feeling of the chains around her wrists and being to weak to break them.

__You're fragile like a human. _  
>You don't deserve to be queen any longer.<br>_Farewell, Marceline.__

____"Marcie?" Finn asked again. He had the bottle in his hand. "You want some? I don't think I packed anything red, so for now this is your only option." She nodded and set down the sun umbrella because they had stopped underneath a shady tree along the mountain pass. Finn handed her the bottle. She hesitated, for one small moment, but then put the rim of the bottle to her lips and took a swig.

When she took the bottle off her lips, she saw the seal on the bottle's glass. Her eyes widened in horror and she dropped the bottle of blood, glass shattering beneath her.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Finn exclaimed.

"That's not my blood," she breathed. Her chest heaved up and down erratically and she gripped the trunk of the tree to help balance her. "That's not my blood!" she shrieked.

"What's wrong? Whose was it?"

Finn's voice was drowned out and Marceline could feel her head swirl, she could feel herself grow dizzy and everything began to lose shape and meaning. A star surrounded by a circle inside a flaming fire. That was the seal mark on her blood bottle. Suddenly, everything was turning black, but this time she wasn't alone in the dark, she was still clinging to a tree and it was like a spotlight was down on her. "WHO ARE YOU?" she screamed. "Why are you doing this to me! Why are you trying to kill me!"

_Kill you? Dear Marceline, dear vampire queen, we're not trying to kill you._

That voice, that damned voice. "Show yourself," Marceline ordered. "Show yourself to me you coward!" Her fingernails dug into the tree bark. She shut her eyes tight and didn't open them until the dizziness became so unbearable she had to. When she did, she saw the body of the voice in her head. "No..." she murmured. "No, you're not real... you're not real..."

_Sweet Marceline, please don't cry._

"You're not real! You're just toying with me! You cruel bastard, I'll kill you, I'll murder you!"

_But I am real, sweet Marcie. I've been in a cold dark place and now I'm with you._

"Why are you doing this to me? Why?" she croaked. Her tears were falling freely, but that was not her concern.

_I'm not doing this to you, sweetheart. I'm here to comfort you, baby girl._

The figure held out its arms.

_Come to me, Marceline._

Marceline finally had enough. She wasn't sure what was real or what wasn't. Real or not, she ran into the figure's arms. She ran into her mother's arms.

**Author's Note:**

**If you're confused, I understand. Hopefully you're not, but I plan to elaborate further in the next chapter. Did everyone have a good holiday? I did! I bought purple jeans. Random to state in an A/N, but I love purple pants. How many pants are purple? Lololololol. **

**Haha I'm getting silly again XD Anyway, I've written another one-shot, it's FionnaxMarshall but same difference. It's a wedding story. I was insprired after watching a marathon of Bridezillas... don't judge me. So I'd appreciate it if you check that out.**

**Happy New Year! Thanks for reading and please review! **

**~Luna**


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By Luna Mrow**

**—4—**

* * *

><p><em>Thursday, July 12th, 5:03 P.M.<em>

She knew he wouldn't leave her alone until she told him what happened. He was persistent even for a human. They had been traveling through the mountain pass all day, in silence, but with tension in the air so thick it could be cut with a butter knife. Finally, Marceline decided she should just tell the adventurer and said, "Ask away."

"Are you alright?" Finn questioned immediately after she gave him consent.

"Yes. I'm fine."

"What happened to you?"

"The blood I drank was not my bottled blood."

"Whose blood was it?"

She knew Finn would ask that. "Ask another question," Marceline replied.

When she didn't answer a question the adventurer learned not to press her. "What happened when you drank the blood? Because from my perspective, she started to freak out and have a mental episode, then you blacked out for a few minutes." Finn remembered the events that happened only this morning. He wanted to do anything he could to stop that from happening again. His vampire friend really scared him. He was lost in memory lane and then realized she hadn't given him an answer. "Marceline?" Finn wondered. "What happened when you drank the blood?"

"I had... an illusion. It was almost like my first one, except this one was much more... diabolical." The Vampire Queen tightened her grip on the umbrella she held above her for shade. Soon the sun would go down and she could put the umbrella away. She could feel her body tingle in anticipation for the nighttime skies.

Marceline didn't need to wait for Finn to ask his next question, she knew what he was going to ask. "In the illusion," she began, right at the moment Finn was going to ask, "I was alone in the dark. I was chained and I was too weak to break away from my chains... I struggled out of them so hard my wrists became bloody and raw. There was a voice that talked to me. No, taunted me. The voice told me I was no better than a human, that I was no longer a queen, that everything I loved was coming to an end."

As she told Finn about her illusions, Finn mentally debated who was powerful enough to get in her mind. As you can imagine, he had come across a lot of villains in his time, but none of them sounded this sophisticated. Who did he know that could literally get inside you mind? Could mess with you mentally? "Marceline, do you have any idea who could've done this to you? Whose blood bottle you drank? Anything that would help us?"

"No."

Finn sighed in frustration. "Okay," he sighed. "At least now we know not to give you blood." She didn't say anything, she merely nodded.

Another silence fell over the two, but at least this one didn't have tension. This was a nice and peaceful silence. "When is the stupid sun going to go down?" Marceline demanded, breaking the nice and peaceful silence.

"Not for another half-an-hour." Finn fought a smile. "Are you getting tired of holding your umbrella?" She merely growled as a response. "Here," the adventurer offered. He took her umbrella and held it over her head for her. "Better?"

"Your such a weenie," was Marceline's reply.

Finn laughed. "You're welcome."

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the mountain...<em>

"Oooh! Jake, Jake, Jake, I see the wizard village below! Wonderful, ahahahaha!" Ice King cheered.

The magical dog sighed in absolute relief. "Finally. We would have gotten here sooner if you hadn't stopped to do your aerobics." There was bitterness when Jake said 'aerobics'. He had to watch as Ice King did forty squats. Sounds like no big deal, right? NO. Ice King doing forty squats was one of the most horrible things Jake had ever seen. And the dog had seen a lot in his day.

"Jake, you know I have to do aerobics to keep this hot bod in shape. The ladies like a hot bod, you know? When summertime comes I'm gonna look sweet in my bikini."

A disturbed face went across Jake's face. "Uh... Ice King... babes wear bikinis. Not boys. Babes."

Ice King gasped. "What? Does that mean I spent $400 on a bikini for nothing?"

"Who told you to wear a bikini in the first place?"

"Gunter, of course."

"Gunter is a penguin! What would he know about bikinis?"

Ice King merely groaned. "Now I know why I got funny faces from other people when I went to the beach last summer."

Jake couldn't help but laugh. During their conversation about bikinis and summertime they had landed down in the wizard's village. It was like a ghost town. Wooden houses a shops were all around, with a fountain in the middle that splashed golden-colored water. The streets and sidewalks were paved with old-time bricks and Ficus trees were planted on every corner to add class. The town had an old-time antique feel to it but certainly was very clean and nice.

"Is anybody here?" Ice King wondered out loud. "Talk about poor hospitality, sheesh."

"There's a motel sign. Come on, let's go see if it's open."

"Okay. But if we share a room you can sleep on the couch."

Jake groaned. "Stop making things so weird, you big nerd."

* * *

><p>Luckily, Finn and Marceline made it the wizard village just in time. They didn't waste much time and immediately found the old worn-out motel sign. The two stepped inside the motel and were greeted with a powerful aroma of cinnamon. "Welcome! Welcome!" a happy voice greeted. Finn saw the clerk behind the front desk and stepped over. The clerk was a Bengal tiger with black and fiery red stripes, wearing a cute little blue hat as part of his uniform. He had big blue eyes and a jug of chocolate milk in his paw. "Greetings, travelers. I'm Spot, and I hope you enjoy your stay in Magic Springs."<p>

Marceline couldn't help but giggle. "You're a striped tiger named Spot?" she asked.

Spot nodded. "Yes. And I have a cousin who's a cheetah named Stripes. Anyhoo, will it be one room or two for y'all?"

Finn turned to Marceline. "I think we should at least rent a room just in case. We'll probably have to wait until tomorrow to find the wizards." The adventurer turned to the tiger. "How much for a room?"

"One V.O. a night good sir," Spot replied.

"V.O.?" Finn asked.

"Valuable object. Here in Magic Springs we don't pay with money, we pay each other with valuable objects. For example, if I wanted to buy that young lady's umbrella, I'd give her my chocolate milk. Because to me, my chocolate milk is a valuable object," Spot explained.

"So, it's kind of like a trade?" Marceline questioned.

"Yes, it is kind of like a trade, vampire lady. So, as I've said, one valuable object a night."

Finn took off his backpack and started to rummage through it. Toothpaste? No. Trail mix? No. The secret lock of Princess Bubblegum's hair? ABSOLUTELY NOT. "Hmm," the human-boy hummed. "How about I give you this whistle?" He held up a yellow whistle with a blue design on the front. "I never used it so it doesn't have my germs."

"Excellent," Spot beamed. He took the whistle and examined it. "I'll have our luggage-taker show you to your room. Just go down that hallway and the luggage-taker will do the rest."

Finn and Marceline nodded gratefully, then started to walk down the hallway Spot referred to. "Where did you get that whistle anyway?" Marceline asked.

He laughed. "I took it from Beemo." After he said that, Finn turned his head straight and then gasped loudly in sheer and utter disbelief. "NO! I don't believe this! You're the luggage-taker?" he cried in shock.

"Like, what the glob Finn, everyone has to have a job or whatever. So like, shut up and stuff, and let me show you to your lumpin' room." There was only one individual in all of Ooo that talked like that; Lumpy Space Princess. What was she doing so far away from Lumpy Space? Did her parents kick her out again? And why was she here of all places?

"LSP, why are you here? I'm confused," Finn stammered. Marceline literally had to grab him by the arm and drag him along the hallway as the two followed the floating princess.

"Spot and I used to go to band camp together. He played the drums and I was lumpin' awesome on a bass guitar. We had a summer romance n' stuff but I dumped him for Brad. Of course, Brad dumped me for Melissa. And do you know who Melissa dumped Brad for? Brad's brother Johnny! Like, what the lumps, how could you date your ex-boyfriend's brother? And Johnny isn't even as good-looking as Brad. I mean, Johnny is handsome n' stuff, but Brad is a man-babe and he-"

"LSP," Marceline interrupted. "Finn's question was why you were here? Not your band-camp romance with Spot or the relationships of your ex-boyfriend's little brother."

"Right," LSP agreed. "Well my parents kicked me out of our house so I called Spot and he gave me a job here. It's really cool too, I get paid vacations, and I've met a lot of cool peeps." The floating princess then took out a silver key from her shirt pocket. "This is your room. By the way Finn, I'm totally texting PB that you're on a romantic getaway with some pale skinny chick. Who the lump are you, anyway?"

After she asked that a lot of things happened at the same time which made things seem out of text. LSP opened the door to the room, and Finn's mouth made an 'O' shape because he didn't want LSP to tell Princess Bubblegum anything. As the door to the room swung open, it was revealed that someone was in the room, and when that someone saw the three outside the door, that someone exclaimed, "Janet!"

To which Marceline replied, "Jake?"

Then Jake asked, "Finn?"

Finn asked, "Ice King?"

Ice King asked, "Finn?"

And then Lumpy Space Princess said her own name so she wouldn't feel out of the loop. "Lumpy Space Princess."

The first one to recover from the shock of seeing two new people was Marceline. "What are you to doing in our room?" she questioned.

"Our room," Ice King corrected. "And who are you, pretty lady? Are you a princess?"

_Seriously, they still don't recognize me? _Marceline thought to herself. "That's Janet, Princess Bubblegum's cousin," Jake answered matter-of-factly.

"A cousin of a princess? FEH!" Ice King scoffed.

Marceline ignored the old king's blatant insult and turned to LSP. "Don't you have another room?"

The princess shook her head no. "Sorry guys. Looks like you'll have to share. If you trade me something I'll give you a blow up mattress."

"Why can't we have another room?" the vampire hissed.

"Because the place is packed. Like, what the lumps, you guys should have come here sooner."

Jake stepped closer to the three. "Wait," he said, "How can this place be packed? We were just in town and it was like a ghost town! No one was there and we didn't see anyone in the shops or houses either."

"Yeah," Finn agreed, "good point Jake."

"Thanks bro."

Lumpy Space Princess sighed. "Clearly you noobs don't know much about Magic Springs. This spot is the birthplace of the founder of magic, the great wizard Whisper. Every year all the wizards and magical beings come here to celebrate and honor Wizard Whisper for one week. Part of paying their lumpin' respect is to stay indoors when it's dark outside. Tomorrow morning they'll all be back out in town, don't lumpin' worry. Why are you guys here, anyway?"

Finn and Jake opened their mouths and said at the same time, "We're here to find a potion." They then looked at each other. "No way! We're here for the same thing? Hey, stop talking when I talk!"

Marceline laughed. "You two are such weenies."

LSP shrugged. "I should go. Bye guys. Remember, I have that extra air mattress. It'll just cost one valuable object." She winked and floated away.

* * *

><p><em>Friday, July 13th, 1:21 A.M.<em>

The only one who was able to sleep was Ice King. And of course he slept on the biggest bed with the softest pillow and started snoring. Finn, Jake, and Marceline were able to ignore him luckily. The three were sat down on the bathroom tile, with a box of pizza between them to share. "It's weird that we both found each other here, Finn," Jake said as he munched on a pepperoni slice. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming here?"

Finn shrugged. "I'm sorry, brother. I didn't mean to not tell you, it just sort of happened."

Jake's puppy dog eyes then grew several sizes. "You didn't replace me did you?" he sobbed.

"No! Of course not buddy I'd never replace you with Janet!" Finn cried. He gave Jake a big hug. "I missed you, you big glob."

Marceline rolled her eyes. "Weenies, I swear," she muttered. "Hey you two, not to interfere your bromance reunion, but I'm going down to the lobby to get some ice."

"What do we need ice for?" the adventurer asked.

The vampire queen flashed him a wicked smile. "I was going to dump it on Ice King's head." Finn laughed and she winked, walking out of the bathroom and out of the room with her long flowing ebony hair whisking behind her.

When the door slammed to signify she was gone, Jake turned to Finn. "Dude, why didn't you tell me she was Marceline?" he demanded.

Finn blinked in confusion. "Wait, what?" he asked.

"Oh come on dude, I knew it was Marceline! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I-uh- how did you know?"

"It's not that hard to figure out." Jake was actually lying, he spent five hours trying to figure out mystery Janet girl's identity. Really, Marceline was only a guess, and when he asked Finn the boy confirmed it. But Jake wasn't going to let his doubt show. No, no. "You better spill dude."

Finn put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. But really fast, can I have that last pizza slice?"

Jake growled. "Fine. NOW TELL ME."

"OKAY! Uh, let's see, as you can imagine, Marceline is thirteen. We're not sure why, when I went to her house on Monday she was in her house and literally could barely move or speak. So I took her to our house and hid her out on our outside deck. By the way, when you get a chance, you should tell Lady Rainicorn that I'm not a murderer."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Never mind. Anyway, Marceline stayed at our house for a few days. We thought about what could be powerful enough to make Marceline thirteen and we figured it was probably a potion or an elixir from the wizards and sages in this town. So we set out along the mountain pass but during our trip Marceline had hallucinations and she discovered that her bottled blood was not hers, someone planted their own bottle in her fridge. Right now I'm trying to figure out who and what did this to Marcie, because I think whatever turned her thirteen is also killing her. And I'm really worried, Jake. I'm really, really, worried."

Jake could hear the layers of distress in his little brother's voice. "It's okay," he said, patting Finn's shoulder. "I'm going to help you, okay? We're the dynamic duo, the adventurers of Ooo, we can do this." He smiled. "Eat your cold pizza, brother."

Finn hiccuped and kept munching. "Why were you here?"

"Oh, right. Basically I got roped into helping the Big Nerd over there, apparently he had an age-reversing potion he bought from this old wizard and he lost his bottle so he begged me to accompany him to go find it."

Finn and Jake's eyes widened. "THE POTION!" they screamed at the same time. "THE POTION ICE KING LOST MUST BE THE POTION MARCELINE DRANK!"

"Wait, no, no, that's not right," Jake then said. "Ice King told me that the old wizard who sold him his potion made him a deal. He'd give Ice King two potions if the Ice King agreed to give one of the potions to Marceline. Yeah, I remember he told me that! Ice King even said he had one of his ice monsters put the elixir in Marceline's fridge for her!"

"That means whoever sold Ice King the potions wanted Marceline dead."

"Right, but that doesn't help us with who," Jake added. "But tomorrow we're going to definitely find out!"

"And you said Ice King lost his own potion?"

"Yeah, he said he couldn't find his."

"Hmm." The puzzle pieces were coming together... but there was still a large chunk missing.

* * *

><p>There was a loud crackling noise as Marceline poured the ice into the small silver bucket. When it was full she lifted it up but immediately had to set it back down. "Glob, I really am weak," she sighed. Lifting a simple ice-bucket was too much for her. Marceline examined her small pale hands. "You can do this," she told herself.<p>

"Or, I could do it for you, Mar-Mar."

The Vampire Queen froze. Her black eyes widened and she remained still for a long moment. Slowly, she turned her head and hissed defensively, showing her set of fangs. "Leave! I don't want you here!"

Ash smiled deviously. "You're so small, Mar-Mar. Did you shrink?"

Marceline hissed again at her ex-boyfriend. Ash looked exactly the same last time she saw him. The only difference was his hair; now his white locks were all over his head instead of in the middle, and he had a full head of white hair. Ash took several steps closer to his ex-girlfriend. "Don't come any closer," she warned. He simply smirked and embraced her in a hug. She hit his back and tried to shove herself off of him but because she was so weak it did no harm. "Let me go!" she screamed.

"I missed you, Marceline. I know you missed me, too."

"No I didn't! I hate you, you creep, now set me down!" she ordered. Ash dropped her and she landed on her two feet and glared up at him. "Leave! Now!" she hissed.

He winked. "You'll see me again babe. You're not getting away from me this time."

Suddenly Ash vanished like magic. Marceline huffed and puffed in frustration and then in a very low voice she whispered, "Help me."

**Author's Note:**

**Whoo! Long chapter but I figured I owed y'all one because I haven't updated. Sorry about that :/ However, I hope you liked this chapter and thanks so much for all the kind reviews I've received! :D **

**Hmm, there's not much to say in my Author's Note. So perhaps I shall tell you all a random fact about myself: when I was younger I used to play with Polly Pockets. Yes, that seems a random enough fact XD Now I'm all into Legos. And yeah, I'm a teenage girl. Go figure, right? lol! **

**Thank you for reading and please review :)**

**~Luna**


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By Luna Mrow**

**—5—**

* * *

><p><em>Friday, July 13th, 7:09 A.M.<em>

Finn was the first to wake up because he was used to rising with the sun in the first place. The human boy went to the window of the motel room and opened the floral-patterned curtains. Through the glass window he saw the town and it was like it was a completely different town from yesterday. Hundreds of creatures hustled and bustled through the streets below, making their way in and out of colorful shops. Finn felt excitement wash over him to get down in the town and share a piece of the action! "Jake! Ice King! Wake up!"

He turned around and saw Jake and Ice King both on the bed, Jake snoring away at the foot and Ice King snoring away at the front. Finn stared at the two for a few moments. _You know, _he thought, _they almost look cute._ But now was not the time for almost-cuteness! _Now is the time for action! _Finn told himself. "Hey! Jake! WAKE UP!"

The magical dog woke up with a start and he sprang up a few feet in the air, landing on Ice King's big ol' belly, waking the big nerd up. "Waah! Princesses please!" Ice King cried as he woke up. "Huh, Jake? My belly is not a pillow!"

"I know that, nerd!" Jake yelled back. "Although, your gut is oddly comfortable. And the soft fabric of your dress really adds a nice touch."

"This is not a dress! It's a shirt that comes all the way down to my ankles!"

"THAT'S WHAT A DRESS IS!"

Finn sighed as the two started to argue about fashion and pillows. He quickly left the scene and went into the bathroom where Marceline was asleep in the bathtub. She was turned over so her back was to the adventurer and she curled her body into a ball. "Hey, Marcie," Finn said softly. "Time to wake up." He reached out and shook her shoulder, noting how soft her ebony-colored hair felt against his fingertips. She turned over and was now on her back, but still asleep. The adventurer then saw the expression on her face. She was not in a peaceful slumber, she looked like she was having an unpleasant one... perhaps a nightmare, even. "Marceline," he said again, putting his hand on her shoulder.

Suddenly she shook her head back and forth hissing, "Get away from me, Ash! Stay away from me!"

The adventurer's eyes widened. Ash. She said Ash's name. Her ex-boyfriend who Finn _really_ didn't like. Why should he? That fart tricked him and Jake to go into Marceline's memories. He made him think he was an old man with no arms. He hurt Marceline and tricked her into thinking she was in love with her. He used him and manipulated Marceline. _Wait..._ Finn thought, _Ash was also able to disguise himself as an old man! Jake said that Ice King told him an old wizard sold him his potions!_

Obsidian eyes met his. Marceline stared at him with a quizzical yet innocent look on her face. The vampire hadn't realized that she was awake and had yet to realize she was conscious again. For the first time Finn saw her as a child. He saw her like he saw himself... young... new to the world and everything that lurks within it. Even though the queen had been around for well-over a thousand of years... she still had a sense of purity to her. In that quick moment, the Vampire Queen looked like a princess.

And then the moment ended as quick as it came. Her long eye-lashes blinked and she yawned and stretched out her arms. "Whoa, I didn't realize I was awake until I saw the bathroom ceiling," she yawned.

Finn was still in a bit of a daze. He wasn't really thinking and words left his mouth before he could stop himself. "What was it like when you were thirteen all those years ago?" he asked. Silence falls between them. The adventurer curses himself; he knows good and well that Marceline's past is something she guards dearly. "Sorry, never mind," he said quickly. "I was just, I don't know, I didn't**—**"

"Lonely." Marceline's melodious voice cuts off his stuttering. She sits up in the tub and twirls a lock of hair between her fingers. "My childhood was lonely," she murmured. It felt like she was talking to herself more than she was talking to him but Finn stayed quiet and listened. "My mom... she used to be my best friend, too. She'd play with me and always tried to stay up all night with me. She even built me this shaded jungle gym so I could play outside during the daytime. My mom was awesome."

This was the first time the vampire had spoken about her mother. Finn knew she had a complicated relationship with her father, but never once had she mentioned her mother. There was a look of dread in her eyes when she spoke about her as well. "Is everything alright, Marcie?"

_No, _she thought, _everything is falling apart._

"Marceline?" Finn asked again.

"I'm fine," she replied.

"You're sure? Because while you were sleeping... I heard you, you know, talking. Not that I was listening in! I was just coming in to wake you up and you just blurted his name!"

"Whose name?"

Finn hesitated. "Ash," he finally said. "You said Ash's name. That's the missing piece of the puzzle, it makes sense! Ash is a wizard vampire. He disguised himself as an old man and sold Ice King the two potions, purposely intending for you to receive one. The bottle of blood that made you hallucinate... that wasn't your blood! That was Ash's bottle! He's here in town Marceline, he's the one behind this!"

"I know," Marceline replied. "I saw him last night when I was getting ice."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?"

She held her head low. It was embarrassing for her to admit that seeing her ex-boyfriend again scared her. Almost nothing scares Marceline. But seeing him again did. Because the Vampire Queen had already pieced the puzzle together before Finn did. As soon as she saw Ash, she knew it was his blood that poisoned her. She knew that he was the voice in her head toying with her, taunting her with words. She knew why he turned her thirteen.

"He got his revenge on me, Finn," Marceline said in a low voice.

The human boy turned to her. "What do you mean?"

She met his expression with her own. "Ash didn't just turn me thirteen. He's killing me."

* * *

><p>"Jake, you and Ice King need to stay here and keep the motel doors locked."<p>

The dog turned to Finn and saw the adventurer and Marceline packing things in Finn's backpack. "Wait man, I thought we were going to town," Jake said.

"No. Just me and Marceline can go. You need to stay here and make sure no one comes in here and messes anything up," Finn answered seriously.

"What! You cannot confine me to this simple motel room all day!" Ice King exclaimed.

Finn glared at him. "Another word and you're grounded. Look Jake, I'd explain, but I literally don't have any time to waste."

Jake could sense the urgency in Finn's voice. "Well, why can't I come help you two?"

"Because leaving Ice King by himself is basically asking for disaster."

Jake couldn't argue with that. "Wait, Finn, just tell me what this is about. What's wrong with Marceline?"

Ice King gasped. "Whoa! What happened to Janet?"

The two adventurers ignored the old king. "She's drank bad blood... literally. And we figured out that the main mustachio behind this whole mess is her ex-bf, Ash. He didn't just turn Marceline thirteen, the bottle he sneaked to her is also killing her. We need to go into the town and find a wizard or sage powerful enough to counteract his potion and you need to stay here and make sure Ash doesn't come in here and tries to mess with anything," Finn explained.

The magical dog had a lot of information to take in his brain. "Why the sudden rush now? If the potion Ash gave Marceline is supposed to be killing her, why isn't she dead right now? No offense."

She rolled her eyes and answered his question instead of Finn. "Because he doesn't want me dead just yet." She grabbed Finn's wrist and slung his backpack over her shoulder. The two left the motel room with a slam of the door.

"Well, that was rude," Ice King huffed. "Hey, Jake, want to order room service? We could order muffins!"

Jake sighed. "Forget your muffins."

* * *

><p>The pair made it into town in no time flat. Marceline was still holding Finn's wrist without realizing it, but he didn't mind because the town was so crowded he didn't want to get separated from her. Marceline scanned the shops for a certain sign... there! "This way!" she exclaimed. She pulled Finn in one direction and the adventurer finally found himself inside a small store that smelled like grapefruit.<p>

"You know, this is the most determined I've ever seen you," Finn said.

"Shushers," she hissed. Marceline approached the old shopkeeper behind the counter of the store. He had wrinkly blue skin and a huge nose, dressed in mint green robes and wearing a ruby medallion. "You're a healing sage, aren't you? You're the one they call Sparkles" Marceline asked.

He stared at her with his beady yellow eyes. "Very keen young girl," he replied. "And who are you?"

Before she could answer, Finn burst out laughing. "SPARKLES!" he laughed, "Oh my glob, really? An old fart who looks hundreds of years old is named Sparkles? Ahahahaha! Oh man, I wish Jake was here, he would love to see**—**" Finn cut off his sentence when the Vampire Queen gave him quite possibly the scariest glare he had ever seen. "I mean... wow, what a great name, Sparkles. That just makes you sound twenty years younger. No, forty! No, sixty! No, no, no, one-hundred!"

The wizard Sparkles scoffed. "You know I'm only seventy-three."

Before Finn could apologize Marceline put a pale hand on his mouth. "He's human," she explained. "And I'm Marceline the Vampire Queen. I believe my father came to see you fifty or sixty years ago to buy a few potions from you."

Sparkles nodded. "Ah yes, I remember the Vampire King. I was merely an apprentice back then. You're his daughter? My, you're young."

"Actually, that's why I came here to talk to you. You see, my true body form is that of a seventeen year old, not a thirteen year old. I was given a bottle of blood mixed with magic that turned me younger. But... it's also killing me. I need to know if you can reverse it."

The old sage sighed. "Well, I'm going to have to look through my spell book. I've heard rumor that when a vampire drinks another vampire's blood the repercussions can be catastrophic." He stepped into the backroom of his shop and a few minutes later returned with a book so thick it looked to be twenty pounds! It was ten times the size of the enchiridion! "If you two will just give me a minute... why don't you take the human who thinks I'm old somewhere in the back?"

Finn was about to apologize again but Marceline gave him another look so he shut his mouth. The two walked to the front of the store and looked at numerous things the old sage was selling. "I didn't mean to offend him, you know," Finn said.

"Yeah, cause calling him old is supposed to make him feel bubbly inside," Marceline remarked. "Really Finn, Sparkles is my only hope. He healed my dad years ago when he got in a really bad fight with a ghost army. I couldn't remember him but I must have subconsciously thought of him when I said we should come here."

He nodded as he listened to her talk. "Why is it catastrophic for vampires to drink another vampire's blood?" he then asked.

She released a heavy sigh. "It's always been that way. Kind of like ancient vampire law, you know? Vamps don't drink other vamp's blood. There's this... internal consequence if we do. Like hallucinations in my case. Even though Ash tricked me, it doesn't matter."

Finn could hear the sadness in her voice again. She was trying to be strong but it was hard for her. He turned to the vampire and gave her an encouraging smile. "We're going to get Ash, okay? He's not going to get away with this." She didn't seem too convinced. "At least you can choose your boyfriends wiser. Learn from your mistakes of the past bf's."

When he said that she smirked. "Yeah, yeah, this is coming from the guy who's been crushing on the same pink princess forever," Marceline teased.

"That's the spirit."

She rolled her eyes but smiled and shook her head. "You know, I wish I had a boyfriend who was as kind as you. Maybe a little less weenie-ish, but just as nice."

Finn turned his head so she couldn't see him blush. "Ha-ha. Good luck finding a boyfriend as mathematical as me."

* * *

><p>Ten or twelve minutes had passed before Sparkles called the pair back to the counter of his shop. Finn could already tell by the look on the old sage's wrinkly face that he didn't have good news. "I'm sorry Marceline," he said in a rather grave tone of voice. "There's nothing in my medicine that can cure poisoned blood. Only the one who poisoned you can revert you."<p>

Her immediate reaction was to hiss and her large white fangs popped out of her mouth. "NO!" she yelled. Her fate was in Ash's hands? She was dead already.

"Marceline, please, there was something else I found," Sparkles said. Finn grabbed Marceline's shoulders and nodded for him to continue. "Although I can't give you a spell or potion, my book did tell me how to treat it. You're experiencing hallucinations, are you not?"

"She is," Finn answered.

"That's because the poisoned blood went to your brain and has infected your memories and thinking. In order to return to normal, you have to go inside your mind and retrieve the poison. When you have retrieved it, you should be back to normal. However, I'm not sure if you'll still be thirteen or not. This is my first case of your condition."

Marceline huffed and puffed from her outburst but told herself to stay calm. "So... are there any dangers to... going inside my... brain?"

"Well, your physical body will be comatose for as long as your in there."

_Just like when me and Jake went into Marceline's memories, _Finn thought. "Thank you, Sparkles," the adventurer said. "And I'm sorry for making implications of your old age. You look younger than another nerd I know, Ice King. So... keep it tight, I suppose."

Sparkles chuckled. "I was just kidding. I'm actually well-over six thousand years old, bro."

Finn gasped. "I KNEW IT!"

The old sage frowned. "Get out."

"Come on Marcie," Finn said. The two walked out of the store and walked towards the fountain in the center of town. By now Marceline already had her umbrella over her head to protect her from the sun rays. "What's our next plan of action?" Finn asked. "We need to find a potion that will allow us to get in your head."

"Oh, I think I can help with that." Finn and Marceline turned around and saw Ash towering over them. The vampire had a devious smirk on his face and he sat down next to Finn. "I knew you two would figure out I'm behind this, you're both smart cookies. And judging by the depressing atmosphere that's over you two, I'd say you also figured out that I'm the only one who can save Mar-Mar."

Finn growled and turned to Ash. "DON'T call her that!"

"Now-now, watch your tone. I'm here to swing a deal, not fight with a snotty nose boy like you." Ash grinned and looked at Marceline. "What do you say, Mar-Mar? You want to hear about my little proposition?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a little kid," she snapped.

"But, you are a little kid."

"BECAUSE YOU POISONED ME!"

Ash chuckled. "Yes, suppose I did. Anyhoo, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll send you and Finn inside your head myself, so you two can retrieve the poison. And, if you two are able to get it in twenty-four hours, you win. However, if you fail to retrieve the poison in twenty-four hours... well... we already know the consequences, don't we?"

Finn's eyes grew wild. "Why are you after her? What can you possibly gain from killing Marcie?"

"Ooh, it's Marcie now? Guess you don't like Mar-Mar anymore, eh?"

"Shut up," she growled. "Why are you even swinging a deal? Why won't you just let me die?"

Ash laughed. "I don't just want to kill you, Mar-Mar. I want you to go inside your memories. I want you to see that breaking up with me was the biggest mistake of your life. I want you to regret ever leaving me. A trip down memory lane would do the trick, don't you think? Now, make your decision. Will you take the deal or not?"

The Vampire Queen looked at her human companion. Did she really want Finn to go into her past? There were things she wasn't proud of, moments in her lifetime she wish she could forget. Things that... if Finn found out... he might just hate her. She was a bad person for a time... a really bad person she hated. But it was okay when she hated herself... but she couldn't take it if he did. Did she really want him to find out what dark secrets she kept locked in her head? There were a lot of skeletons in her closet... at what point would be enough for him?

After a few silent moments she felt him take her hand in his. "I'm with you," Finn whispered softly. "We'll do this together."

She nodded solemnly. "Okay."

"Excellent," Ash smiled. "Now hold still you two**—** and this will probably hurt you more than it will hurt me. In fact, I'm positive."

The last thing Finn remembered was Ash's cold fingertips hitting his forehead at superhuman speeds**—** a bright light blinding his vision**—** then darkness.

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys :D I just wanted to say I'm sorry for not updating in awhile. I have this karate rank test I'm taking tomorrow and I was flipping out about it. For some reason, when the word 'test' is in there, pressure is added ten times more XD I take karate as passionately as writing, but I'm glad I could get this chapter done. **

**The story has officially picked up in the direction I was originally aiming for. From now on the chapters will mainly be with Finn and Marceline, but Jake and Ice King will still be there, don't worry. I feel so bad for Jake xD He's all alone with the big nerd. Haha but we all love Ice King despite his nerdy-ness. That's not a word, nerdy-ness. I improvised mrow. **

**Anyway, thank you for reading please review, and thank you for all the kind reviews I received before! I'm so happy y'all like the story =3 **

**My socks have polka dots! 8D **

**~Luna**


	6. Chapter 6

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By Luna Mrow**

**Author's Note:**

Before I start the chapter, I'd like to acknowledge a derp mistake I made in the previous chapter; Ash isn't a vampire. Whoops XD According to Adventure Time he's a rag wizard. So, for the sake of the story, I'm going to go ahead and make Ash a vampire whose learned magical powers like a wizard. So he's a wizard-vampire, but just for this story. There are a few major things I'm going to spin on this story, that isn't the case in the show, but for my story. You'll see what I'm talking about as you read on. Please keep reading xD

**—6—**

* * *

><p><em>Marceline's Memory; Hour One<em>

Finn held his eyes shut-tight for a few moments, the blinding light making his head spin. Suddenly the light diminished and he opened his eyes slowly. He released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. The adventurer slowly lifted his head, his golden hair falling over his face and blocking a portion of his forehead. _I'm in a bedroom, _he realized. The room was small, barely fitting a small bed with a gray comforter. The walls were plain and white, there was a wooden dresser in the corner with a gray lampshade, and the only colorful thing to bring the otherwise dull room to life was a red rug and on the tiled floor and red curtains on the window.

"This was my room." He turned and saw Marceline sitting on the small bed. "You don't have to worry about me now, Finn, we're inside my head. I'm perfectly healthy for now," the vampire told him. Although she felt healthy, or so she said, she still looked thirteen and as frail as a twig.

Finn sat down on the bed next to her. "I've never seen this place before."

She nodded. "We're in my first home when I was just a little girl."

"How are we supposed to find your poison, anyway?" Finn asked. "I guess we'd have to keep searching your memories until we come across the memory of you drinking the poison, right?"

Marceline shrugged. "That's my best guess. Come on weenie, let's get a move on. Twenty-four hours will pass a lot quicker than we think." The Vampire Queen had a point. Finn followed Marceline out of her bedroom door and down a long dark hallway. The house seemed dark like a cave (of course, it was a home for vampires) and there was little or no light, the only light provided was by melting candles.

"Oh, Marceline! Where's my baby girl?" called a woman's voice. Finn lifted his head in surprise. Who's that woman? Her voice was so bright and happy. The two came out of the hallway and stepped into what looked like a kitchen. Standing in the middle of the kitchen was a tall woman with long ebony hair like Marceline's, beautiful blue eyes, pink lips forming a bright smile, and light peach-colored skin. She looked like an older Marceline! _No... _Finn then realized, _she's not Marcie, she just looks like her. _

The woman didn't seem to notice the two standing in the hallway. Instead, she turned her attention towards a little girl who ran from outside. _The little girl is Marceline! _Finn realized. The woman gave Little Marceline a big hug. "Did you have fun outside?"

Little Marceline shook her head. "I sure did, mama!"

"Good. You want some cookies?"

"Yeah!"

The woman laughed. "Alright, go wash your hands and I'll give you some."

Little Marceline smiled. "Thanks mama!" she exclaimed, before running off. Little Marceline headed towards the hallway, and to Finn's surprise, she actually ran _through _him and Marceline! It was like they were ghosts!

"I don't understand," Finn then said. "They can't see us or touch us?"

"Looks that way," Marceline replied. "Come on, we need to move on." She headed for the door grudgingly. Finn took one more look at her mom, who was setting cookies on a plate. It suddenly occurred to the adventurer that Marceline has never mentioned her mother. In fact, he believed she didn't have one, even though everyone has to have a mother. She looked so... kind. Why wouldn't Marceline want to mention her? An even more puzzling question, why would someone as kind as Marceline's mother marry someone as cruel as Marceline's father? Just what happened here?

Finn finally stepped outside the kitchen and followed Marceline outside. The vampire was walking directly in sunlight but it didn't bother her. Perhaps because there wasn't really sunlight shining on her, it was just a memory of sunlight? Finn wasn't sure. "Hey, Marcie, why didn't you tell me you have a mother?" he asked.

She stopped walking and turned to face him. Her serious gray eyes met his. "There are some things about my past you shouldn't know," the vampire said seriously.

He was taken aback by her sudden coldness. "It's alright. I won't judge you."

"Don't ask about my family," she ordered firmly. Marceline turned around and began walking again. "Come on, here's another door." Finn disregarded her coldness to him. For whatever reason she didn't want to talk about her mother, it was obviously personal and hurt to bring up. He decided to let it slide, but that didn't stop his mind from wondering**—** what was she hiding?

* * *

><p>The small door in the forest took the door to a library. The room was huge and stacked full of books, however there were hardly any lights and the only thing illuminating the room were halfway-melted candles. "Wow. I've never seen so many library books," Finn awed. "Where are we?"<p>

Marceline thought for a moment. "My dad's study."

"What? We're still in your house?"

"No, the house we were just in was the summer home I used to stay with my mom at. Now we're in the castle and this is my dad's personal library," she answered. She carefully stepped over piles and piles of books that covered the carpeted floor. "I didn't come here until I was thirteen," she said. "I was only in here once, I was waiting for my dad to come in." Finn followed the vampire girl and they rounded the corner of the bookshelves. There, sitting in a large chair in the corner of the room, was young Marceline.

Finn smiled. "So this is you when you actually were thirteen?"

"Yeah." Young Marceline had her black hair spiked to her shoulders, bangs covering her forehead, and was wearing a bright electric blue dress with black leggings. For some inexplicable reason she was also barefoot. She hummed to herself as she turned the page of a large book sat on her lap.

The adventurer then wondered what kind of books her dad's library had. He stepped off to the side and investigated one row of books. The books were mainly about weapons, war, and salsa... apparently Marceline's father loved salsa and collected books about the dip. "Whoa! Check it out Marcie, your dad actually has a romance novel in here!" he laughed.

"What? No. He doesn't read that mushy junk."

"Oh really?" Finn asked. He took out a light pink colored book. "Then why is there a book called Love, Love, Love is Magical?" He started laughing all over again. "Your dad is such a sap!"

She started giggling as well. "I had no flippin' idea he read those kind of books!"

"Slammacow! It's not just this book, he has a whole series!"

Marceline laughed even harder. "I guess that's why I wasn't allowed to snoop through his library." She smiled and turned around to look at the memory of her younger self. "We should really get a move on."

Finn nodded. "You're right."

"Of course I'm right."

"Oh shut up." Marceline found the next door by moving aside a pile of books near the end of the bookshelf. "As you probably guessed, my memories are out of order," she informed the adventurer. "There's no telling how many doors we have to go through, but we need to start moving faster."

He nodded. "I got you."

Marceline released a heavy sigh. "How am I going to thank you for all this?"

Finn gave her a confused look. "Huh?"

"You've already done so much for me, Finn."

"Don't even worry about it, Marcie." He smiled assuredly. "I'm happy to help you."

The two locked eyes; her gray ones with his black ones. Marceline then returned his smile with her own smile. "You know," she whispered. "I wish I knew you when I really was thirteen. I wish you were my friend when I was a kid growing up... I would've been a lot happier." Her voice was sad.

"I'm your friend now."

"I know." Marceline stepped into the portal. At first her body started to slowly go into it, but suddenly she fell quickly! "Aaah!" she screamed.

"Marcie!" Finn yelled. He jumped in the portal after her! He then found himself going down a slide at excessive speed! "Marceline!" he called again.

"Turn left!" her voice cried.

_What? _He asked himself. The adventurer saw what she meant; there was a fork in the tunnel. It was too late however, because before Finn could lean left he already went right, and he suddenly slammed into the ground! He groaned in pain as he sat up. "Stuff, I got separated," he grumbled to himself. There was no telling where Marceline was or could be. His only option was to keep going through doors until he found her.

The adventurer stood up. He was once again outside, in a fresh-cut grass fields. The shining moon was above him, the silver moonlight illuminating the field. Finn stood there for a moment, taking in his surroundings, wondering where a door could be. He decided to just start walking. As soon as he took one step, he heard a loud and painful cry that sounded off the fields! "Marceline!" he exclaimed.

He ran quickly towards the painful cry. Finn suddenly stopped running. He was frozen still. His breath hitched in his throat and his eyes widened at the sight before him. He saw Marceline in her normal teenager form, with her long hair and long body. Older Marceline cradled over, her long hair flowing around her. Her body shook uncontrollably from harsh sobs. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she mumbled again and again. The memory of the Vampire Queen lifted her head**—** revealing the person she was cradling so close to her.

It was Marceline's mother, and she was dead in her daughter's arms.

Finn finally realized what darkness he got himself into**—** what darkness was inside Marceline.

**Author's Note:**

**I'm sorry for just ending it like that. I'm also REALLY sorry for not updating! Did fanfiction malfunction for you guys Friday and Saturday? Because I couldn't log in or access my FF account and I had to wait until now to update! Rawr! So I'm sorry for the delay and hopefully FF won't malfunction on me anymore :/**

**This chapter was a little more serious-toned. The next chapter will be a little serious, but hopefully it'll have some humor in it too :) I've gotta mix it up a little bit, so this chapter was a little more serious-toned. To quote the Joker from the Dark Knight, "Why so serious?"**

**Hahaha! XD So please review and thank you for reading. Once again, I apologize. **

**~Luna**


	7. Chapter 7

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By Luna Mrow**

**—7—**

* * *

><p><em>Marceline's Memory; Hour Two<br>_

He wanted to reach out and touch her. He couldn't stand the look of pure misery and heartbreak on her face, and especially couldn't stand the lifeless and cold expression of her dead mother. "Marceline," Finn murmured. He knelt down next to her on the grass. The adventurer then noticed that her two fang marks on her neck looked fresh**—** crimson blood was dripping down the side of them. He knew this wasn't real, he knew that he shouldn't be here next to her, he should be trying find the younger her. This Marceline wasn't real, she was just a memory.

But she looked so _real_. And she was crying, salty ice-cold tears dripped down her pale cheeks. "Mom, mom, I didn't know," she choked. "Mom, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"What happened?" Finn asked her. He knew she couldn't hear him but at that moment he didn't care. Finn reached out to touch her, but remembered his hand would just go through her like he was intangible. "Marceline what did you do? You couldn't have done this... you... couldn't have..." Finn muttered.

Could she?

_Did _she?

The adventurer stared at Marceline's mother. He felt a sickness come to his stomach and realized that this was too much for him, he had to get into another memory and he had to do it now. Finn stood to his feet and started walking along the forest path, in a few short minutes finding himself in another place and another time.

Luckily, Finn didn't find himself in as quite as a gruesome setting. But, he did find himself in a memory he _didn't _want to be in. "Oh Ash, you don't really want to go out and attack the Fire Kingdom," Marceline laughed. The Vampire Queen was her teenager self, her hair in a pony tail, and she had a hand around _his _waist. Ash. It was all his fault they were in this mess. Finn recognized this place to be his tree house, obviously after Marceline moved in but before she broke up with Ash.

"Come on babes, it'll be fun. We'll mess around, find ourselves a few jewels or awesome stuff to snag, maybe fight a couple guards and leave. It'll be a slam-dunk-sammich," Ash said.

Finn scoffed. "Slam-dunk-sammich? That's so lame. Don't listen to him Marcie, the dude is obviously a loser."

"Hmm," the vampire hummed. "Mess around you say?"

"Yeah," Ash grinned.

"Steal some awesome stuff, you say?"

"Definitely baby."

Finn gasped. "Marceline, don't you dare! Stealing is not cool! I know you're a thousand years old, and you might've lost track of your moral code, but you CANNOT steal! That's what baddies do!"

Although Memory Marceline could not hear the thirteen year old adventurer's protests and words of wisdom, it seemed like she could. At least, it seemed like she knew Finn was in the room and was purposely teasing him, even though that was not the case. "I do love to steal," she purred, "almost as much as I love being bad." Finn groaned in frustration. "You also said fight a few guards?" she then asked.

Ash nodded. "Yeah babes. You know the Fire Kingdom guards are pretty good fighters."

"They are," she agreed. "And I need some battle practice with my axe bass. I wonder if it could cut someone in half," Memory Marceline mused.

"This would be a good way to find out."

"It would be a good way to find out."

Finn was flabbergasted. "Marceline! You're not SERIOUSLY going to cut someone in half, are you? Come on! You're better than this! You don't want to do this!" he cried.

Memory Marceline nodded. "You know what, I totally want to do it. Let's go."

Ash grinned and gave her a kiss on her cheek, both of the vampires flying out of the tree house. Finn sighed in defeat. "Oh Marceline, why you gotta be so mean?"

* * *

><p><em>Marceline's Memory; Hour Three<em>

No. No. No. NO. This was NOT apart of the plan! The real Marceline slammed her fist angrily against the wall, huffing and puffing angrily like she had just ran a mile. She didn't care if her body was in a fragile state and going nuts was a bad idea. She had every right to go nuts. She had every right to go bananas! Bonkers! Off her rocker! RAWR! The one thing the Vampire Queen did not want was for that adventuring moral-coded thirteen year old boy to get lost in her memory. There were a lot of things he didn't need to see, let alone know about. "Ugh! What if he finds out what I did in the Fire Kingdom?" Marceline asked herself. "So I cut the guard in half with my axe bass... but I felt bad about it for like, what, fifteen years? That was punishment enough!"

She stomped through her memories like they were runways. Well... you know... runways for angry models. Okay, she stomped through her memories like they were battlegrounds. So many memories passed by her, but she refused to stop and get lost in them all. She couldn't. So many images passed her by; images of her when she spent time with Princess Bubblegum, the tragedy during the Great Mushroom War, the concerts she used to rock out to, the somewhat-pleasant moments she'd spend with Ash. The Vampire Queen passed them all by without so much as a stop or a look.

Until, she came across a certain memory she didn't remember.

She saw herself asleep, which was odd, because do you really remember things when you're asleep? Apparently so. Marceline saw herself sacked out on her couch, a bottle of blood on the floor, the light from her TV on, and soft snores escaping her. "So I guess I do snore," Marceline muttered. "You know I look pretty cute when I'm asleep." The vampire was about to move on into another memory when she heard someone at her front door. A voice called out her name. "Finn?" she asked.

Her front door opened and Finn stepped inside. He was twelve, she could tell because his blue shirt had a pocket sewn in, and he only wore a pocket sewn shirt when he was twelve. "Hey Marcie, I'm back from**—**" Finn stopped talking when he noticed Memory Marceline was asleep. "Cool, I didn't know vampires slept," he awed.

Marceline rolled her eyes. "Of course we sleep, you weenie. What, you think we're awake all the time forever?" Of course, she received no reply, as Finn could not hear her. The adventurer stepped through her living room and into her hallway leading to her upstairs bedroom. "Just what do you think you're doing?" Marceline questioned suspiciously. Who does he think he is? Does he really think he can walk through her house all wild and free? Apparently so.

Finn came back and had her black throw blanket from her bed. The Vampire Queen watched in surprise as the adventurer walked towards her memory self. Finn carefully placed a pillow under Memory Marceline's head, placed the blanket on her, turned off her TV, and set her remote on her coffee table. "There you go," he smiled.

"I had no idea you did that for me, Finn," Marceline mumbled. "That's so... that's so... sweet."

"Goodnight Marceline," Finn then said as he stared at the memory of her on the couch. "Sweet dreams."

"You know, if I could, I think I might just kiss you," Marceline murmured softly, as she stared at the memory of her best friend. "But, then I remembered you have Jake shrunk up and inside your shirt-pocket, so I change my mind."

* * *

><p><em>Outside in the real world, July 13th, 12:02 P.M.<em>

"I don't like this, Jake. They've been gone all morning and we've been stuck here. I want to go outside, I want to explore this town, I want to party with some pretty babes and let them feel my beard!"

The magical dog sighed. "No, Ice King. You're staying right where you are."

Ice King pouted and crossed his arms. "You always listen to Finn. Why won't you listen to me?"

"Because Finn isn't a big nerd, old and bonkers," Jake answered.

"Hey! Now I don't mind being called bonkers, and I don't mind being called a nerd. But don't you dare call me old. I am not old."

"You're totally old," Jake objected.

Ice King threw his somewhat-flabby arms in the air. "This is all your fault!" he accused.

"What?"

"It's your fault we're in the mess we're in!"

"What? How?"

"Because you and Finn always call me old. And you've severely damaged my self esteem. Now I have low self esteem, which has pushed me into the making the decisions I've made. You think I wanted to live this way? I wanted to find myself a pretty lady princess **—**_cough_**—** or two **—**_cough_**—** and make her my bride! All I've wanted out of this cruel world was a pretty lady princess bride!"

Jake wasn't following. "Wait... what?"

"You and Finn call me old every chance you get. Which is why I looked for a way to make myself younger. Which is why I found the age-shifting potion. Which is why we're in this mess. It's all because you and Finn called me an old fart!"

"YOU ARE OLD!" Jake yelled. Ice King then jumped to his feet, lifting his dress/long-sleeved-shirt-that-came-down-to-his-ankles over his head. "Whoa man, what are you doing?" Jake demanded.

"Look at my gut!" Ice King ordered. "It is the gut of an old Ice King. It is the gut of a lonely old fart who has no pretty lady princess bride. This gut... is a _void. _Do you know what I fill this void with, Jake? Raspberry fat cakes! Raspberry fat cakes fill the void in my lonely soul! But now... now... now you have filled the void the raspberry fat cakes once filled. Thank you Jake, thank you for standing beside me, the old fart." Ice King then proceeded to sob and cry, occasionally blowing his nose into his scraggly beard.

Jake awkwardly stood there, considering jumping out the window. "So, let me get this straight, first you accuse me of being old, then you make me look at your gut, then you thank me for supporting you?"

Ice King cried harder. "Life is so cruel!"

The dog sighed. "Finn, brother, please... for the love of glob, hurry up!"

* * *

><p><em>Marceline's Memory; Hour Four<em>

Finn felt like he had been wandering for days rather than hours. He wished he had Jake with him. The thirteen year old boy had been through Marceline's more light-hearted memories. However, most of her past was with her and Ash. Finn had to unfortunately witness those two cause chaos and destruction, including giving poor Peppermint Butler a wedgie. Who gives Peppermint Butler a wedgie? And WHY? He was so nice and sweet and minty. Why would you wedgie him?

"Huh, that's weird, this memory has two Marceline's," Finn muttered to himself. "Wait... there can't be two... Marceline? Marceline! Is that you?"

The vampire turned. "Finn! It's you! I found you!" she exclaimed. Finn ran straight to the vampire. She looked tired, bags were forming under her eyes. "I can't believe it! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he nodded. "What about you?"

"I'm just glad we're not separated and we can get a move on." She was unconsciously leaning forward and because of how tired she was she lost her balance and fell forward. Finn caught her and stood her back up straight. "Okay, maybe I need a few minutes. I hate being so weak."

Finn laughed. "It's alright. I could use a five minute break, too. It'll be a slam-dunk-sammich."

She literally froze when he said that. A few minutes of dead silence passed. "Where did you hear that?" Marceline then asked.

"Ash."

"Ash only said that once, when he and I were**—**"

"**—**going to cause chaos at the Fire Kingdom? Steal things, start fights, and mess around?"

"Finn, you've got to understand, back two-hundred or three-hundred years ago I was**—**"

Once again he interrupted. "I just don't get it," he said. "Why did you have to do those things? Did you feel cool? Did you feel strong? Was making everyone else's life hard a rush for you?"

She held her head low, her long bangs covering her eyes. This was why Finn couldn't get lost in her past. "Ash brought out the worst in me," she mumbled. "I... I loved being bad... for him. But then I realized how much of a jerk he was. But there was a time... there was a time I was a really bad vampire, Finn. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, a lot of mistakes I've made, and I live with them every day. And being in here... it's like I have to confront them all over again. I finally came to the realization that although Ash pressured me, he didn't force me to do bad things. I did that all on my own. And I**—**I take responsibility for it."

A few silent minutes passed. Marceline didn't dare look up at Finn. She knew he'd be mad at her**—** why wouldn't he be?

Suddenly, his warm arms went around her small frame. Marceline was abruptly hugged by Finn, and the adventurer didn't let go or let up on his hold. "I'm not mad," Finn said softly. "I'm trying to understand the best I can, and maybe I won't understand. But I can't hold something you did a long time ago against you now. Grudges won't help you, and they won't save you. It's okay."

That feeling came back. That feeling of... that... _touched_ feeling. Finn's heart was so pure. He was so kind. He was so...

"Finn?" Marceline whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Can you stay still for a moment and close your eyes?"

"Why?" he asked.

"Please just do it."

Finn nodded. "Okay." He let go of her and closed his eyes.

Marceline took a deep breath. Her small hands went on his shirt and she curled his soft shirt material into a fist. The Vampire Queen, who was now thirteen, then stood on her toes. She hesitated for a moment, but then closed her eyes, softly planting her soft lips on Finn's. He didn't flinch at her sudden kiss, and she softly kissed him, bringing her mouth off of his. "That's a thank you," she whispered. "Just in case I don't make it."

**Whoo. Glad to have this chapter finishe****d =D **

**I just want to say I'm sorry for the long wait for the update. My computer crashed. Yes. It's very sad for me I spent three days online for tech support and then I had to ship my beloved laptop to Texas to get it fixed :'( So that's why updating has been hard, I have to write at the library. I'm sorry. But thank you for being patient and thank you so much for reading. Please review :)**

**You're all mathematical!**

**~Luna**


	8. Chapter 8

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By Luna Mrow**

**—8—**

* * *

><p><em>Real World, July 13th, 2:48 P.M.<em>

The Ice King finally convinced Jake to leave the motel room and venture out into the Wizard Town. "Why, hello my chums, and how was your stay?" Spot asked happily as he saw the two approach the front desk of the lobby. The tiger was eating a strawberry pastry that LSP traded him for lip gloss. It wasn't sure why exactly Spot the striped tiger would have lip gloss on him, but he happily traded it for breakfast.

"Hey man, have you seen Finn or Marceline?" Jake asked.

"You mean the human boy and the vampire lady?"

"Yeah, them. They've been gone awhile and me and my friend are looking for them," Jake answered.

Ice King giggled. "You called me your friend. Tee hee hee."

The magical dog ignored him. "Mutual acquaintance," he growled slightly.

Spot thought for a moment and put a paw on his strawberry-jam-smeared mouth. "Nope, can't say I've seen them," he then said. "But you know, this town is quite magical, as I'm sure you know. If you wish to find your comrades, just put the wish in your mind. Your wish will come true."

"Oh I get it, it's like some kind of fairy godmother biz," Jake said. "So if I wish I had a sandwich, would I receive a sandwich?"

"If the intention is pure," Spot replied.

"So, if I wish for an evil sandwich I won't get a sandwich?"

"Unless the intention for an evil sandwich is pure!" Ice King exclaimed.

"You can't wish for something evil and stay pure," Jake argued.

"You can, if you wish it with all your heart. For example, I used to wish with all my heart that you and Finn would blow up in a steamboat so you wouldn't crush my game," Ice King explained. "But now look, we're mutual acquaintances, almost friends! My wish came true!"

"If your wish was for me and Finn to blow up in a steamboat, then NO, your wish did NOT come true!"

"Yes, but underneath all that hatred I secretly wanted to be your friend. That Jake, was a pure wish."

"Exactly. It was a pure wish with no evil! That was my point!"

Spot sighed as the two kept arguing. "Look," he interrupted. "I was just reading a fortune cookie. I don't really know if you wish for an evil sandwich if the sandwich will manifest itself before you. All I know is that if you two want to find your friends, standing there and arguing isn't going to make your wish come true."

Jake nodded. "He's right. How about a peace, Ice King? Just until we're back home in Ooo and everything is normal again."

The old king nodded. "Fine. But for the record, an evil sandwich would have mayonnaise, not mustard."

* * *

><p><em>Marceline's Memory; Hour Eight<em>

If Finn could rate the atmosphere on a scale of 1-10 for 'how awkward' it was that Marceline kissed him, he'd give it a '4'. It wasn't all that awkward, when he thought about it. Marceline's lips were soft and plump and as much as it made the thirteen year old boy blush, he kinda liked the feeling. Wow, Jake would give him such a hard time if he heard him say that. At least this awkwardness wasn't a full scale '10' like the time Finn saw Marceline naked while he and Jake were in her closet.

Now that memory had crossed his mind, he was glad she never knew about that.

Or maybe he spoke too soon...

Suddenly their journey through her memories took them into her bedroom. "We're getting closer," Marceline said. "I think the farther we walk the deeper and personal we get. A lot of deep and personal stuff happened in my bedroom. Like writing my diary and stuff." Finn nodded stiffly. "Finn?" she asked. "You okay?"

He knew what memory this was. He could see the paper airplane he made on the floor near her trashcan. "Hey, let's go somewhere else, okay?" he tried asking.

It was too late. "Hey, I don't remember ever seeing you walking across my floor," Marceline huffed. She pointed to Memory Finn crawling across her carpet. "What were you doing in my room?"

"No! Don't follow Memory Me!" Finn screeched. Marceline stomped after Memory Finn as he went into the bathroom. Normal Finn sighed. "Oh boy."

Marceline started howling... in laughter. "OH MY GLOB!" she laughed. "You TOTALLY saw me naked and I had no FLIPPIN' idea!" Marceline fell on her bedroom carpet in a fit of laughter. "This is priceless! AND LOOK! You're just as red now as you were when you saw me! AHAHAHAHA!"

Finn was happy she wasn't mad, but maybe if she was he'd be less humiliated. "I didn't know you were changing!" he yelled in defense. "I'm not a perv!" She kept howling. "It's not funny! I was really embarrassed!"

"You're SUCH a weenie!" Marceline laughed. "You see a girl naked, and the first thing you do is run back in the closet with your little pet dog!"

"Best friend."

"Whatever." She stood up. "Oh glob, I needed that laugh. Wow, whoa, that was hilarious." She wiped a tear from her left eye that appeared because she laughed so hard. "Man, Finn, I should kiss you again just for making my ribs hurt." His face turned red all over again. Marceline smirked, "Oh, I'm sorry. Does Finn not want another smooch from the Vampire Queen?"

She made teasing puckering noises. "For your information," Finn then said. "I'm too awesome to kiss anyone right now. Plus, I'm on a mission. So there shall be no smooches during mission Finn mode." By now, Marceline was back by his side.

"Well, what about after our mission, huh? Will you smoochy-smooch then?" she teased.

He made an awkward squeal type sound that only thirteen year old romantically awkward youths would make. "Is there a reason you're so happy to tease me?"

She rested her chin on his shoulder. "Finn, I've accepted that there's a 50% chance I might die. If I really am going to die inside my own mind, with you, then I just want the last hours to be happy. Okay? So yeah, I'm gonna tease you." She gave him a kiss on his cheek, nearly kissing his neck. "And I don't care if you're in 'mission mode'."

Finn looked at her seriously. "Well there's a 100% I'm not going to let you die. So let's keep moving, shall we?"

Of course, the adventurer was right. "We shall," Marceline replied.

* * *

><p><em>Real World, July 13th, 3:09<em> P.M.

"Well Jake, it's been nearly an hour and we haven't found Finn or the Vampire Lady. I saw we cut our losses and forget about them."

Jake gave the Ice King a hostile look. "We are most certainly NOT going to stop looking! How can you even think like that?"

"I'm just saying we've invested our precious time into finding the two. The probably got married," the Ice King shrugged. "Don't you know that with each minute that passes I get old?"

Jake growled. "We ALL get old, that's how it works!"

"Yes, but you don't understand! I would rather cut my losses and find new best friends than continue this path any longer!"

"We've been looking for forty-five minutes, TWENTY of those minutes you spent crying because you tripped over a rock and scraped your knee." Jake crossed his arms. "We're going to keep looking for my bro and my bro's vampire friend, I don't care if it takes— Oomph!"

Suddenly Jake fell down and the dog realized he tripped over something. Whatever it was, it was much larger than a tree branch or boulder, and much softer too! He looked down on the ground where he tripped. "FINN! Marceline!"

Ice King was lucky enough not to trip. "Well see," he said. "They're laying out in the middle of town. They obviously wanted to trip us."

The magical dog was too happy to see his best friend to tell the old fart to shut up. He leaned over Finn. "Dude! Wake up! You need to wake up!" he exclaimed. He patted Finn's shoulders but it was to no avail.

"Slap his cheeks," Ice King suggested. "The ones on his face, that is."

"You're so creepy," Jake muttered. But he did what was suggested and his paws slapped Finn's soft face. "Not working. Marceline is asleep too. They must be under some kind of spell."

A new voice then spoke. "Very observant, Jake." The magical dog and old fart of a king looked up. Ash stood there with poise posture, a small smile, and gleaming eyes. There was also nacho cheese on his jeans, meaning that he didn't grab himself a napkin and was forced to wipe his fingers on his pants.

"Wow, you're a nice looking fellow," Ice King said. "Tell me, does your idea of an evil sandwich had mustard or mayonnaise?"

Ash ignored the old fart's question. "Finn and Mar-Mar are trapped," he said. "That is, for twenty-four hours, if they can retrieve the memory of Marceline drinking her poison. But they're trapped in a cycle, unfortunately, because a vampire like Mar-Mar has been around for awhile. There are a lot of skeletons in that vampire's closet."

Jake growled. "How long has it been? How long have they been in there?"

"Not long enough. But I'll tell you what Jake, if you want to help Marceline and Finn, give them this." Ash reached into his back-pocket and pulled out a black potion. "Pour this drink into Marceline's mouth and force her to swallow."

"Do you honestly think I'm going to trust you? Man, you're a baddie! Even your haircut screams juvenile! If you don't pull Finn and Marceline out of Marceline's head, I'm going to go 'Kung-Fu-Jake' on you!"

Ice King chuckled. "Gunter knows kung fu. What a talented little penguin."

Ash simply smirked. "Aren't you wondering what happens to Finn if Marceline can't retrieve the potion?" He bounced around a few steps. "Finn will die with her. He's not in his head, afterall, he's in hers. And if she dies, he dies."

Jake's face lost anger and was quickly replaced with worry. "Finn is a hero! He'll be able to save himself and Marceline!"

"I really doubt that, Jake. But if you give her the potion, at least one will die, not two. Finn will at least be able to wake up in his head again." Ash set the potion down. "You don't have to trust me, it doesn't affect me if you do. But I wonder how you'd feel if Finn died, and you could have saved him?" Ash chuckled and started to walk into the crowd. Jake didn't pursue him, and Ice King was spinning in circles. Ash turned to face the four one last time. "The clock is ticking. You have a choice to make. Make it soon."

And then, he was gone.

Jake grabbed Finn's shoulders. "Let's get them back to the motel and off the street." Ice King, for once in his life, did as he was told with no argument or stupid comment.

* * *

><p>"So this lumpin' little bird poos on me, and I was wearin' my lumpin' prom dress. I was so stressed n' stuff, and eating a sammich didn't help either, so finally I just said, 'to lumps with this, I'mmah skip prom'. So I totally skipped prom and spent my Friday night watching two people make out on a park bench." LSP released a heavy sigh. "It's not easy being beautiful, Spots"<p>

The Bengal Tiger sat behind the motel counter listening carefully. "Actually LSP, it's Spot. Not Spot. No 'S'."

"What? No way! I thought it had an 'S'!"

"No Princess, only when my name is a possessive, like Spot's hat. Of course, then that would require an apostrophe."

"Wah? Apostrophe? That is so lumpin' mainstream."

"Mainstream, Princess?"

LSP scoffed. "Chya. Everything is too mainstream, Spot. You know why I don't wear pants?"

"Because you have no legs?"

"No! Because pants are too mainstream! And LEGS are too mainstream!" LSP exclaimed. She took another bite of her canned baked beans. "You know why I'm eating these beans with a butter knife?"

Spot blinked. "Well Princess, a spoon would be easier, because with a butter knife you**—**"

"NO! Spoons are too mainstream! Glob Spot, you need to stay in the know, you know?"

"No."

"Exactly." The two ex-summer-camp-band-mates would have continued their conversation, had Ice King and Jake not busted in. The doors of the motel slammed against the walls as the two dragged in the human boy and his vampire friend. "Oh my glob, you killed Finn?" LSP asked.

Jake looked up. "What? No! I need help in getting them to their bedrooms!"

"Oh my," Spot said. "Princess, you are the luggage girl."

"Ugh! If I try to lift Finn I'll break my back," LSP remarked. She floated over to Jake, who had Finn and Marceline by his feet.

Ice King grinned. "Hi Princess."

"Lump off, you big nerd." LSP set down her beans. "Alright, so how do you guys want to do this? Dibs on grabbing the shoulders, because I refuse to grab the feet." LSP gave the two a quick examination. "Lumps! Janet totally has drool coming off the side of her mouth."

"Not the issue here," Jake said. "Come on, we need to**—**"

"Pardon me good sir, but you need to pay for another night if you intend to stay here," Spot interrupted.

"Not now!" the magical dog growled. Couldn't they see his best friend was his number one priority?

LSP smacked Jake's arm. "Hey, don't take advantage of Spot-apostrophe-s's kindness. Go pay the tiger, we'll take care of these two."

"Spot-apostrophe-wha?"

The tiger sighed. "Never mind good sir, she doesn't understand." Jake growled, but headed towards the counter to pay. He didn't notice that Ice King had popped the cork on the potion bottle Ash had given him. _Maybe smelling this potion will make me younger, _Ice King thought. As he popped the bottle, LSP tried flinging Finn over her shoulders. The thirteen-year-old boy proved to be too heavy for the lumpy princess, and she immediately let him go, throwing him back down. As she threw him back down, his head jostled the Ice King. The Ice King wobbled and tripped over a chair in the lobby. The potion went flying.

_Bam!_

Jake quickly turned around. His eyes grew wide. "No!"

The bottle broke, but the potion inside flew out, and a good gulp of it landed inside Marceline's agape mouth. She drank the potion.

"Oh dear, I'll have to get a mop," Spot hummed.

"What did we do?" Jake exclaimed. "That potion was probably a trap! I was going to send a DNA analysis to Beemo to see if it was safe!" The magical dog felt a feeling swirl in the pit of his stomach. Something told him this wasn't a smart move...

* * *

><p><em>Marceline's Memory; Hour Nin<em>e

"Oh! Ew! Gross! Ack!"

"Marceline, watch out!" Finn caught the fragile beauty before she fell to the floor. Their current location was the Night O'sphere, and the fiery flames were scalding hot, even if it were only a memory. "Hey, it's okay, it's just a memory Marcie!" Finn said. His first panic was that their time was out and the poison was completely consuming her. He gripped her shoulders tighter, not letting go anytime soon.

Her face scrunched up and her tongue stuck out of her mouth. "Ugh! I just tasted black licorice!" she hissed.

"Really? Where? I love licorice and**—** hey, wait, I never saw you eat any licorice!"

She grabbed his shirt and hoisted herself on her feet, clinging to him for support. It was like her legs had turned to grape jelly. "I never ate any, the taste just slid down my throat."

"Ew."

Marceline steadied herself. "There's only one way I'd be able to taste that in a memory. Someone had my body drink it. Nothing in my memory is real, so that's the only thing I can think of. I mean, no one can see, hear, or touch us in my memory anyway." The vampire huffed. "Jeez and I'm starving. Finn? Finn?" she wondered why he didn't answer her. "Hey, I'm not talking to a wall here, weenie."

She looked up at his face. His eyes were wide and his jaw was set. "Turn. Around," he mouthed. Slowly, the Vampire Queen turned her head. There was a giant demon staring directly at them. He was a scaly black demon, with the body structure of a lizard but with red eyes and a tail lit on fire. The look in his blood red eyes were primal. He was a beast of the Night O'sphere. "Marcie... are you sure they can't see us?" Finn whispered.

"Well, yeah, that's how it's been this whole time."

"Yes... but now I'm not so sure..." Finn stammered. "We need to back away slowly. Like, now."

Suddenly, the ground began to shake and a loud roar sounded through the air! The beast then charged at them with full ferocity! "RUN!" Marceline screamed. Finn didn't need to be told twice. He picked Marceline up into his arms and charged off like a rocket! "I don't get it! We're supposed to be invisible and intangible!" the vampire exclaimed. "In fact, I don't even remember ever seeing this beast!"

Finn was somehow able to talk and run for his life at the same time. "Maybe that monster isn't part of your memory!"

"That's crazy! The only way that**—** OH GLOB! Ash! He must have forced a potion down my throat! He connected our memories! Now we're not just in my mind, we're in his! He's trying to delay us so we'll die!"

The beast lashed out with his claws and swiped at them! Finn and Marceline fell to the ground and rolled across the hard dirt floors of the Night O'sphere. Finn nearly fell into an open fire pit, but luckily was able to avoid it while rolling. _We're not only seen, _he realized, _we can get hurt!_ He was acutely aware of his scraped and bloody knee, but that wasn't his problem at the moment. The creature roared fiercely and turned, slamming his fiery tail down like a hammer! Marceline nearly avoided one of his tailed attacks, and the creature reared its tail up for another ground-pound.

"I don't think so!" Finn yelled. He jumped out and grabbed Marceline, not a second before the fiery tail slammed the ground again! Finn felt his left leg get singed by the fire and he grunted in pain. However, he had to ignore his injuries, he had to! Until they were safe, until Marcie was safe! "Hold onto me, Marcie!" he ordered.

"Finn, let me go**—**"

"No!" he yelled. He took the sword from his backpack and threw it straight at the monster like a boomerang! It hit the eye of the beast, the sword cutting into its eyeball like butter. A loud howl shook the ground and Finn took off running with Marceline in his arms. He ran across the barren lands until he reached a cliff with a fiery pit below. The fire hummed with rage below. The creature was charging at them, more furious than ever! Finn looked at Marceline. Two things would happen; they'd jump off and fall into another memory, or they'd burn below and that would be the end.

"Jump, Finn," Marceline said. "Jump!"

He didn't look back. He buried his head in Marceline's neck and let himself fall forward...

* * *

><p>"Come on, bro. You need to wake up."<p>

"Ughh... Jake? Is that you?"

"Yeah dude. Well not really, I'm just a figment of your imagination, but I'm based off the real Jake. Which is really trippy, because here you are in a dream having a dream."

"Whaaa?"

"Just wake up man."

Finn opened his eyes. He was more than overjoyed to see his best friend. "Oh Jake! I miss you so much! I wish you were here man. I shouldn't have asked you to stay at the motel. You're my bro, you should be with me. Plus, I'm all confused n' stuff. Marcie kissed me, and I liked it, but I think she did it cause she was sad, which I don't blame her for, but what if she kisses me again?"

Jake shook his head. "Lady smooches are complicated, dude. But I'd rather be inside her memory with you than alone out here with the Ice King. He's such a nerd, it's insane." He put a paw on Finn's shoulder. "Look man, the reason I'm here is to tell you to wake up and finish your mission. We're both on different adventures today, Finn."

The human boy nodded. "Yeah. That's what it's looking like."

Jake offered an encouraging smile. "We'll see each other soon, bro. But your concern is Marceline for now."

He knew his best friend/brother's words were true. "Wait, can I at least get some lady advice, man? You're not on the single market, you've got Lady, ya know?"

Jake chuckled. "You know, I'm gonna let you make a weenie out of yourself, just this once."

"What? Jake! Not cool!"

"Fine. Tip the waitress, that's my advice."

"What waitress?"

"Exactly. Bye Finn!"

* * *

><p>His eyes pop open and he's on his feet, his hand reaches for his sword but he remembers his sword is currently in the eyeball of a fiery-lizard-demon-creature. Finn realized that the jump and Marceline made wasn't fatal, that's they're alive and they're in another memory. He takes in his surroundings quickly; he's in a forest with trees that encircle them like a cocoon. The treetops are so thick that the sunlight doesn't reach them if it's even daytime. The light that allows him to see is from millions of fireflies above him. "Marceline."<p>

The Vampire Queen looked up at him. She was on her knees, kneeling over something in the ground. "I think this is my final memory, Finn," she whispered softly. "I think after this memory we'll reach the core of them all."

Finn brushes his dark blond hair from his eyes. "Why do you say that?" he asked. While he's waiting for an answer he inspects his legs. "Why is there tree sap on my calf?" he then asked in surprise.

"Helps ease the burn," she answered simply, disregarding his first question. Finn lightly touched his singed leg. It was a tad less tender. He walked towards Marceline and kneeled down beside her. That's when he saw the white colored tomb stone that read in beautiful handwriting:

_Here lies Evelyn Abadeer_

_Beloved mother, friend, and wife  
><em>

_May she remain pure, even in eternal slumber  
><em>

"Your mother," Finn said softly. "This is where she was buried."

"This is my most painful memory," Marceline whispered. "And... I think I need to tell you about it... because if I don't, then Ash will use it against me. You deserve to know what happened to my mother." She wasn't looking at him, she was looking at the pure white gravestone. "Finn, my mother died because of me."

**Author's Note:**

**Okay, this is going to be a pretty long A/N. The first thing I wanna say is I'm sorry! I'm really, honestly, sorry about not updating for nearly three months! It wasn't intentional, and I feel bad about making you guys wait so long. Please don't be upset. I don't plan for mini hiatuses to happen, they just happen, and it's not fun for me either :/ I'm really sorry.  
><strong>

**I would also like to dedicate this chapter to AwesomeHatProduction :) He PMed me and asked about my story, and really, it just inspired me and made me happy that he cared so much. Really, to all my readers, it's truly an honor and very humbling that you all read this story. It really makes my spirits high. So again, this chapter is for AwesomeHatProduction :)  
><strong>

**Thank you for reading and please review! I promise, this story is no longer on hiatus!  
><strong>

**~Luna  
><strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By Luna Mrow**

**—9—**

* * *

><p><em>He walked towards Marceline and kneeled down beside her. That's when he saw the white colored tomb stone that read in beautiful handwriting:<em>

_Here lies Evelyn Abadeer_

_Beloved mother, friend, and wife  
><em>

_May she remain pure, even in eternal slumber  
><em>

_"Your mother," Finn said softly. "This is where she was buried."_

_"This is my most painful memory," Marceline whispered. "And... I think I need to tell you about it... because if I don't, then Ash will use it against me. You deserve to know what happened to my mother." She wasn't looking at him, she was looking at the pure white gravestone. "Finn, my mother died because of me."_

"You don't have to tell me, Marceline," he said softly. "There are some things that are too personal."

She shook her head. "You should know." The vampire kept her stare at her mother's pure white grave. "I was born half vampire and half human," she then explained, softly.

Finn's expression was surprised. "But... I thought I was the only human, I thought..."

"This was over a thousand years ago, Finn. Humans were still around, and Evelyn was my human mother." Marceline's tone was careful. "My dad, he was still evil, even back then, but somehow he got together with someone as kind and pure as Evelyn. And, well, they had me. I was born a half-breed, but my father would always tell me when I got older I would become a full vampire. He spent his time in the Night O'sphere, and I lived up in a nice grass field with lots of trees with my mother. We visited there in my memory. I think those were some of the best times of my life; playing outside with my mom and then eating cookies with her."

Evelyn Abadeer's face flashed through Finn's mind. Her warm and inviting smile, her long raven black hair, her bright pink lips. _Evelyn looked like Marceline, if Marceline were human_, Finn realized. If Marceline had a beating heart and colored skin, if she was just like him.

"When I turned thirteen my dad took my away from my mom to live in the Night O' sphere," then Queen continued. "I didn't want to go, but he forced me, and he told me it was time I learned about my vampire side. In his domain I was exposed to all the malevolence and evil that went on every day. I went from picking flowers in the fields with my mother to watching my dad torture demons and hearing their harsh howls. He also taught me about my vampire side. He gave me blood for the first time."

Marceline paused, because bringing up the first time she tasted sweet blood would be a memory she'd never forget.

"After my first taste of blood," she finally continued, "I was done for. I wanted to be a full-vampire. Not just for the blood, I loved the freedom that came with it. I loved being able to fly, I loved being able to morph into scary creatures, the immortality. I was too young to understand the repercussions of my decisions. I had to wait until I was seventeen until I could turn full vampire. It was a celebration down the Night Os'phere, everyone came to watch my skin turn gray, my eyes turn black, and my fangs pop out for the first time.

"And your mom?" Finn whispered.

"She was still on the surface world, in the same little cottage. She... she hadn't seen me for four years... and I'll bet she was really scared for her daughter. I probably really worried her. On the night of my ceremony, my father told me I had to cut my bond to my human blood. He handed me a glass filled with some kind of ancient vampire potion and told me to drink. I had no idea what would happen to my mother if I did. I didn't know, he never told me. I would have never done it if father had. I would have never..."

Marceline trailed off and buried her face in her hands. Her small shoulders shook from choked sobs. Finn wrapped his arms around her. "She died when you drank the potion, didn't she?" he murmured.

"I killed her!" Marceline cried. "By 'cutting off my human blood' I not only got rid of mine, I got rid of hers, because it was her human blood that I inherited! And no one knew that would happen, my father didn't know, and no one knew just how strong the potion was! It was never tested before, it was never used before, because I was the first half breed ever created by vampires and humans! So I drank the potion and I changed into a vampire, I felt the power surge through me but I also heard a horrible, a horrible terrible **scream**! And I knew, I knew whose voice it was!"

The Queen's explanation was coming out in choppy and erratic breaths. "Calm down Marcie, calm down," Finn said.

"I flew to the surface world and I found her on the grass a mile off from our old house. She was already dying when I got there. And I held her, I told her how sorry I was, and she died in my arms. She died because of me!"

Finn knew what she was talking about because he saw her memory. And in that moment, the adventurer could feel the Queen's pain. He could feel the heartache she was feeling and he saw the look of pure misery in her eyes as she held her dead mother. And Finn just held her tighter, and Marceline stopped crying but she couldn't look up at the human holding her. "The price of my power was the life of the one person I loved the most," she murmured finally.

"You didn't know. You didn't know the potion would kill her as well."

"But whether I knew or not, I still killed her."

He desperately wanted to make her feel better. Finn hated how Marceline was feeling. Didn't she know that she was one of his favorite people, aside from Jake? Didn't she know that he thought she was one of the most beautiful creatures in Ooo? Didn't she know how much he loved to spend time with her? Didn't she know that although her past is dark, although there are skeletons in her closet, she's still someone he cares about deeply?

She should know. She should know how much she truly means to the hero.

"Marceline?"

"Finn?"

"Marcy, you mean the**—** you're really important**—** I just..."

"Please don't try and make me feel better, Finn. It makes me feel weak."

"No, you're not weak. You're amazing. Marcy, you're one of my favorite people in the world. You're funny, smart, daring, challenging. But most importantly, you're not evil. You may not be the hero, but you're not the villain. You may not be Ooo's hero... but..." he trailed off, feeling his heart pound loud in his chest.

The young hero had never confessed his true feelings inside, not to anyone, even Princess Bubblegum. He was never outright honest with anyone, and now he was supposed to be with Marceline? He just didn't want to see her sad. He didn't want to see her defeated. He would do anything if it meant he got his old Marcy back. And if that meant embarrassing the glob out of himself so she knew the truth, it was worth it!

"Marceline, you may not be Ooo's hero, but you're my hero!" Finn suddenly exclaimed. "And what happened then is in the past, and as hurtful as it is, you can't let it disrupt your future! I need you to be my hero, Marceline! Be my hero, and I'll be yours!"

_Whish! _

He looked up and saw the young queen staring down at him. Her mouth was ajar, her fangs showing, her hands in tight fists. Finally. Finally. Finally! She was looking at him the way she used to look at him**—** with a challenge. Whatever he said to her brought her fire back. Finn stood up as well, and Marceline smiled, the traces of her sadness slowly disintegrating. "I'm not gonna lie Finn, that was the cheesiest speech I've ever heard."

The adventurer laughed. "You know, I'm starting to think you have a thing for cheesy. I think you secretly like weenies and all their cheese."

She made a face. "That sounded wrong."

"You know what I meant."

"Do I?"

"Marceline, you think I'm amazing! Admit it!"

She pulled his beloved hat off his head and put it on her own. "I'm sorry I haven't been myself. This trip through my mind, the poisoning of my blood, it was starting to become too much. Ash knew a memory of my mother would send me into misery and I'd give up because of guilt. But thank you, Finn. Thank you for snapping me back." Her words were sincere.

"Come on. We need to get going."

"Okay."

"Wait, gimme my hat back."

She smirked. "Come and take it." Marceline expected Finn to do just that, to take his hat back and to continue forward. But the young adventurer instead gave her a smile, and before she realized what was happening, he swooped forward and kissed her.

_What. The. Glob. _

This was Finn! Embarrassed, romantically challenged and sorta awkward Finn! And he was kissing Marceline the Vampire Queen? If Jake were there, he'd probably fall to his knees and gasp dramatically, barking something like, "What is this world coming to?"

But Jake wasn't there, which was good, because she started to kiss the human back. His kiss was sweet and he smiled against her lips when she kissed him back. Finn pulled back, his mouth making a _pop_ sound as he did so. "Yup, you taste like strawberries," he breathed.

"You taste like... I dunno... weird."

"Well, I haven't exactly brushed my teeth in awhile..."

"Ugh! Gross!"

"Hey, the strawberries have an aftertaste of blood. That's gross." He laughed and held her pale hand. "Come on now." Finn took a few steps forward, unaware that he was walking towards the tombstone, and as soon as he hit the white stone slab, he fell through the ground!

"AAAAHHH!"

Of course, because he was holding onto Marceline, she fell too, and the two began free falling through an unknown hole. Falling through holes isn't exactly the best thing to do after a smooch, but hey, takes away from the awkward pause that's supposed to follow, right?

* * *

><p><em>Real World, July 13th, 4:00 P.M.<em>

"Jake?"

"Leave me alone."

"Oh come on Jakey, don't be a pouter for me."

"Lady?" The door swung open and the magical dog literally jumped out in excitement! "Oh Lady, I missed you so much, you're the best girlfriend in the**— **BEEMO?"

Jake then realized that he was hugging a robot, not a rainicorn. "Sorry Jake!" Beemo apologized. "But Ice King summoned me here with his powers, and I was scared, so I came to your door. And I was playing around with my voice audio, so I guess I sounded like Lady Rainicorn."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Ice King summoned you here with his ice magic? I didn't know his ice magic could teleport! And why did he bring you here anyway?"

Beemo hugged Jake tighter. "He's so horrible! He wants to trade me with some tiger for a protein bar!" the poor robot hollered.

As if on cue, Ice King came into the hallway. "Give me back my valuable object! I've gotta trade it for my protein bar!" he shouted.

"Beemo doesn't belong to you, he's mine, and he's worth a lot more than a protein bar!" Jake yelled.

Ice King rubbed his beard. "Suppose you're right... fine, two protein bars. But I get one and a half."

"No one is getting a hold of Beemo! And realistically speaking, he'd be worth a box of protein bars, and a typical box has twelve, so he'd be worth twelve protein bars." Beemo gave Jake a look but the dog shrugged. "One of your controllers broke, you're not exactly in top shape." Jake set Beemo down and cleared his throat. "Now I've got Marceline and Finn on the beds. I don't know what that potion has done to Marceline, but I hope she's alright..."

Ice King raised a hand. "Maybe she'll be better if she had a**—**"

"**—**Don't say protein bar."

"... two protein bars."

"GO AWAY ICE KING!" Jake shouted, shutting the door to the room. Beemo was standing beside his friend as he huffed and puffed. The magical dog then looked at the scared and confused robot. "You need to be up to date, don't you?"

"It'd be nice to know what's going on..." the little robot stammered. "You know, if you're up to telling me."

Jake sighed and gave his friend a tight and assuring hug. "Ice King just stresses me," he sighed. "It's okay, I'll tell you."

"But before you do..."

"Yes?"

"I'm not going to make it back in time for soccer practice, am I?"

"No, poor Beemo. No."

* * *

><p><em>The Memory Core<em>

Finn won't lie, when he first fell down that mysterious hole, he screamed. He probably sounded like a girl, and if Marceline wasn't so busy screaming herself, she'd probably point that out. But at least he only gave one long and loud scream once. Then he shut up. Because the surroundings suddenly changed, everything was pitch black, and there was a white tree in the distance. The tree was pure white and glowed, and it was tall with hundreds of branches sticking out.

"We're at your memory core," he informed.

"That's great, but we won't reach it if we keep falling," Marceline huffed. "What, so in memory land gravity doesn't work?"

He hummed. "I don't remember that last time. But Jake and I were never suspended in the air for so long. Wow, this is weird." He thought of different ways they could reach the tree. Gravity wasn't on their side, apparently. There was a rustling sound and he turned his head to the vampire behind him, "What are you doing?"

"Looking through your backpack," Marceline informed. "You've got a lot of useless junk in here, you know that?"

"One man's junk is another man's treasure."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I dunno, Jake says it. He says dog instead of man though."

Marceline then hissed, "Yes! I found some rope! Hang on weenie, lemme show you how to lasso." Finn turned so he was facing her, waiting to be amazed. She tied a loop at the end of the rope and started to swing the rope back and forth. Momentum began to build and then after a few good swings, the vampire had the rope flying towards the tree!

_Bwoop._

"Marceline? You missed."

_Growl. _"I know that, Finn."

He started laughing. "Wow, you really missed. Like, the rope didn't even make it halfway."

She made an angry face. "Well it's not my fault my body is a lot weaker! If I was stronger and older, my arms would be longer, and then I'd be able to make the branch!"

"I'm sure you could," he smiled.

Her eyes went into slits. "Alright pathetic human, let's see _you_ try and make the rope hit the tree."

"Well, I would, but**—**"

"Ha! You know you wouldn't be able to get it farther than me!"

"... No, when you threw the rope, you let go of your end, so now the rope is all the way over there," Finn stated.

Marceline realized her mistake. "Oh," she muttered. "I meant to do that."

"You meant to cause more work? Now we have to really push ourselves in order to get the rope."

"Exactly. My plan was for you to workout and build some muscle, flabby."

Finn shrieked in horror. "You take that back! I know I have some pudge, but that's just because my body isn't fully into puberty, or something along that junk!"

She laughed. "No! You're pudgy because you eat Jake's ice cream pizza!"

"You keep his ice cream pizza out of this! You know I have a weakness for ice cream and pizza!" the hero boy hollered. "And I'll have you know that last Saturday I did eleven push ups!"

"Whoa, watch out, we got a badass over here!" Marceline retorted. "And my cat does more push ups than you."

Finn sneered. "You don't have a cat!"

"But if I did, I'd make sure he'd do TWELVE push-ups every Saturday! That'd make my cat that much better than YOU!" the Vampire Queen laughed.

He was starting to run out of quips, so instead his face scrunched up with frustration and tension. "Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Well cats are lame!"

"That response was lame."

"No it wasn't! You know Marcy, sometimes you can be downright**—** _oomph!_"

Finn was never able to finish his insult (not that it was a very good one) because his right side suddenly smacked into something hard. He immediately looked up, and was surprised to see that he had bumped right into the tree! Marceline laughed when she saw his expression. "I purposely argued with you because I know you move faster in frustration," she said simply. "Don't worry Finn, I don't have a cat. And your slight pudge is cute."

He was blushing furiously, because topics about his physical physique wasn't a topic he'd often chat about. "Ummm thank you?" he mumbled. The hero quickly turned his back to the amused vampire and started to climb up the tree. _How can I go from kissing her to fighting with her, to wanting to climb away from her? _The hero wondered to himself. _When everything goes back to normal, I'm going to have a long sit and think about romance and all the junk. Maybe with a slice of ice cream pizza to go along with it. Ooh! Then I'll do more push ups. Yeah. That sounds math. _

"Look Finn! Up there! See that shining light?" Marceline called, pointing upward.

Above was a bright crimson red light. "It's the same color of the blood I drank, the blood that poisoned me! This is it!" Marceline exclaimed. Both of them started climbing faster and faster, anticipation that all this danger could possibly be over! She passed Finn while climbing, and reached a hand out towards the light.

"Are you sure you can touch it?" he asked.

"I don't know... but I'm going to try!" she replied. Marceline gave Finn one final look. "Hey, we're gonna get out of here," she said. Her voice was a little calmer, her demeanor a little more serious.

He nodded in agreement. "We always do."

And with that silent confirmation, Marceline reached forward and stuck her hand through the light. "I'm feeling tingles..."

"Sounds fun?"

She humphed. "Wait... I'm feeling something else... the tingles are spreading...!"

"Now I'm getting tingles!" Finn exclaimed. He was suddenly taken aback. "Whoa, Marcy, you're glowing!"

The red light consumed her whole body, wrapping around her and forming to every bent and crevice in her body. It looked like she was wearing a cloak of red shining light, and it was only slightly disturbing that the color of red looked like blood. Everything happened so fast, as soon as the light consumed her, it brightened, and Finn was blinded by the sudden burst of light! He had no choice but to turn away and shut his eyes tight!

A few moments passed, who knows how long really, but abruptly the light deceased and once again the only thing illuminating the dark was the soft glow of the white tree. Finn wasted no time to look back at Marceline. "Are you okay? Marceline are you**—** WHOA!"

She blinked a few times and opened her eyes. "What? Are we out of my memories? What happened?" she grumbled. "Finn? What's with the look of terror?"

"Not terror! Happiness! Marceline, you're no longer thirteen! Your body is back to normal, you look older again!" he exclaimed.

Her hair was as long as it was before, her skin was back to its normal complexion, her body was taller, eyes brighter, and fangs exposed. All this was what they wanted to fix in the first place, but the queen couldn't help but think something was wrong. "No, this isn't right..." she muttered. "There's no way I can be back to normal..."

"Why not?" he questioned. "You're healthy again, aren't you?"

"I'm not... we're still in my memories. We're still in my mind, in a make believe figment. Anything that happens in here isn't real, so how would I be able to change my form and shape? No, something happened, something made me turn this way." Finn gave her a quizzical look and suddenly Marceline's eyes widened in panic. Her head snapped to her arm**—** it was still inside the red light. She tried to retract her arm, but it wouldn't go back. "Finn! Help me! My arm is stuck!" she shrieked.

He immediately climbed higher to her. "Your arm is stuck in the light?" he demanded.

Before she could answer, she _screamed_. "It's hurting meeee!" the queen hollered.

The adventurer was in panic. He tried to pull Marceline's arm out of the light, but something shocked him as soon as he touched it! The shock sent him flying, but luckily he clung onto the tree and tried to climb back up to Marceline! He wasn't fast enough.

Out from the light came a face, and it was Ash's. He laughed maniacally, a deep evil cackle. "You didn't think I'd let you win, did you?" he chuckled. "Now my mind is crossed with yours, dear Mar-Mar."

"The licorice I tasted! It was a potion you gave me!" she shrieked.

"Oh no, I didn't give it to you. Jake must have force-fed it to you," Ash replied.

"Jake would never!" Finn yelled.

"But he did." Ash laughed and he looked at Finn, giving the adventurer a quick wink. Then, he forcefully grabbed Marceline's face and pulled her into a heated kiss. She screamed against his lips, but he had a hold on her, and he kissed her full on the mouth with viciousness. When he broke off, she yelled she'd kill him, and he spat, "Ugh, you taste like hero. Gross."

The only good thing that came out of Ash's forced kiss on Marceline was Finn being able to grab his sword without him noticing. And now the adventurer was in full rage, because not only is Ash hurting his Marcy, but he totally just kissed her against her will! He flung the sword out and it stabbed straight through Ash's arm! "YOU LITTLE BRAT!" he hissed, automatically losing his grip on Marceline.

At least now that she was back to her normal body, she had her vampire powers. Now his grasp wasn't weakening her! She was able to float no problem and she swung out and kicked him, straight in the nose!

"You two are absolute idiots! You're not getting out of here!" Ash hollered. He then punched Marceline in the face and flew out of the red-light portal. "Your freedom will only come from me," he threatened.

Marceline rubbed the blood off her mouth. "Bring it on, Ash. I've fought you before, I'll fight you again."

"You lost before, you pathetic queen."

"But now is different." Marceline's voice suddenly became as cold and cruel as ice. "I've got Finn."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Longest chapter yet! 8D Whoo! Well I hope this was a drama-bomb filled chapter, and I hope you all liked it. I just want to say thank you to all my guys are truly wonderful :) It's sad that this story is coming close to an end, but I hope you stick with me and read until the end!  
><strong>

**I know the beginning was sad. That was the planned storyline for poor Marcy's mother. I hope you didn't find my switching from sad to funny all too sporadic. Marceline just decided enough was enough and her determination to get out alive strengthened her. Her grief for her mother was also stopping her from continuing forward.  
><strong>

**The image for this story is a fan-art drawing the very talented The Stinky Foot drew. She drew it awhile back as a fan picture for my story and now it's the profile picture. She's such a wonderful artist :D  
><strong>

**Let me know what you think of the chapter! I'M SO CLOSE TO 100 REVIEWS! RAAWWWRRR! That being said, I'd eternally appreciate a review, and thank you so much for reading!  
><strong>

**Much love, randomness, and weirdness,  
><strong>

**~Luna  
><strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

**By MewLuna**

— **10—**

For centuries Marceline had been a rogue vampire, wandering aimlessly around Ooo, trying to steer clear of her father and her past. Those years were the toughest ones she ever faced as an immortal, and she hates to think back to a time were she was vulnerable and weak.

_Runaway Queen. _

It wasn't just her father she was running from... it was Ash as well. "You've grown too soft, Marceline! You're not a queen, you don't have the guts to be one! Down deep you're as soft and squishy as a human. Your father should revoke your title. You don't even want to take over the Night O'shpere in his place! Too chaotic for you? If you're not a creature of chaos, what are you?!"

_What are you? _

_What am I?_

There were nights when she'd cling to a tree trunk, it felt a lot like clinging to her life, keeping it together. She'd watch the skies lighten, the day approach, and she'd wonder if stepping out into the sun was the best thing for her. Marceline was a lost creature.

However, wandering and self-loathing wasn't her style. She did the 'whoa-is-me' for at least a good ten years, which really isn't that long to a vampire. But then the immortal woman decided that if they weren't with her, they were against her. Screw them.

And so started the reputation of Marceline the Mean. That nickname stuck around Ooo for thirty years or so, but it was somehow changed into Marceline the Vampire Queen. She caused chaos of her own accord. That meant scaring poor creatures, playing loud rock music, challenging the strong and the tough, and claiming properties and towns as her own.

Two hundred years was spent on building her image, her reputation. But sometimes, she would wonder about her father. And then when she finally decides to let him in her life, he eats her fries.

Yes, she was an immortal queen. She was tough, she was vicious, she was burnt out on dealing with mortals. It was her feelings about them since the very beginning that got her in this mess. Mortals, they only live so long. She would be lying if she said she hadn't befriended a few, because she had. They died.

But one day Marceline meets a little mortal boy and his name is Finn. He's human. His best friend is a magical dog, and they claim they're 'adventurers', Finn claiming he's the 'hero' of Ooo. Huh. So after two hundred years she meets someone interesting, eh?

What was it about Finn that had her so intrigued? Was it because he wasn't afraid of her? He wasn't scared to fight her? Or maybe it was that one something Finn had inside himself that Marceline always searched for— bravery. Justice pumped through his blood, it was his destiny to be a hero, to fight for a cause. Perhaps she saw that in him, recognized the young boy for what he was.

Was she still the same runaway queen? Even after all these years, all these centuries, she still had to face the same truth that she needed to face before she left. Marceline was not one of her people. In strength, power, speed, immortality, and magic powers she was the vampires' equal.

...but in spirit? She stood alone.

However, ever since Finn came along, she didn't feel so excluded. He was someone who only acted like himself. He wasn't afraid to be what he was.

Ever since that realization, Marceline knew that one day, she'd have to look at herself. She'd have to take a long and painful reflection and answer the one question that has haunted her... _what am I?_

_Who am I?_

Even now, as Marceline lunged at Ash with primal verocity, those haunting questions still wracked her brain, and she hated it. She hated that after centuries Ash still had the one-up on her, he still had that same power over her. There was one time in her life when she saw the wizard-vampire as her friend, as the guy she could pour her heart out to, because he'd listen and make her feel better.

But now he was the guy she couldn't stand to look at, because when she'd look at him she'd have to look at herself...

"That liquid that you felt rushing down your throat? You can thank Jake for that!" Ash laughed. "That was a potion, and it melded our minds together! Now, anything I can think of from my memory can come out, and I've seen a lot of stuff in my lifetime."

_There has got to be a way out of here! _Marceline's head screamed at her. Before she could try and make a plan with Finn, who was still fighting Ash with her, a large dragon appeared out of thin air. "Oh glob!" she exclaimed. "Seriously, Ash? You think of the dragon we tried to slay?! Of all your memories, you choose a dragon!?"

He shrugged. "It's a warm up round. You remember this dragon, Mar-Mar? If I remember right, he liked to— turn up the heat."

_Fwoooooooom!_

Just like that, fire erupted around the memory core's tree, and all three of them shouted in pain. Finn, Ash, Marceline... all of them grabbed their heads and cried out. Were they burned by the dragon's fire? No. "The memory core!" Finn realized. "We're still at the central memory core. All three of our minds are connected, which means it affects all of us! You're risking your life too, Ash!"

He gave them a sardonic smirk. "Maybe. But I'm positive that I'm stronger than the two of you. I'll be the one making it out alive!"

Ash was going to proceed and do the classic evil laugh (he was going to go with muahaha instead of bahahaha) but before his vocals could get going, Finn kicked him in the gut. The hero's kick had him falling out of a tree, where another round of fire came tumbling at him.

Finn looked up at Marceline. They stared at each other for one second, but in that quick second, Marceline could see the same thing in Finn she saw when she first met him. _Bravery. _He really was a hero.

_Maybe I'm a hero too, _she though distantly, before Ash came back at them, this time riding on the dragon. The scaly beast's tail hit Marceline and sent her flying, back into the darkness where the light of the tree didn't reach.

_In the darkness where you've always belonged. _

_You're a creature of the night, aren't you? It's your job to cause chaos. _

_You're a vampire. You're a monster! Act like it!_

The fallen queen couldn't find it within herself to get up and help Finn. How quickly she felt so helpless, how easily she could fall apart. All it took was a trip through her past and the opening of her skeleton closet. She wasn't who she thought she was, she wasn't a tough and hardcore queen. She wasn't who she was supposed to be, a chaos causing, blood sucking, killer.

Suddenly, a small white light encircled Marceline's vision. She stayed still as the light grew brighter. Her skin didn't even burn. The light didn't even affect her!

Out from the light came a tall woman with ebony colored hair, round red lips curled in a small, and affectionate eyes. She stood before the Vampire Queen, her hands clasped together sweetly.

"Mom?"

Her voice was a shrilled whisper, undeniable disbelief.

"Oh Marceline." Evelyn's voice was as soft as silk, warm like a fire on a harsh winter's night. "My little girl, why are you sad?"

That was what Evelyn used to ask her when she was a small child.

"Mom, you're not real," Marceline breathed. "I'm sorry. I wish you really came to me, but you're just apart of my memory."

Evelyn laughed and bent down to her level, gently bonking her daughter on the head. "Silly, you're just as stubborn as your father. Do you honestly believe I'm not real, Marcie?"

At that, the Vampire Queen's head shook no, and she was this close to crying. "Mom, I'm so sorry," she croaked.

"Don't be, Marcy. I came to you to answer a question of yours, silly girl."

There was no need to ask 'what question?'. "Who am I?"

"You're Marceline the Vampire Queen. But you're more than that, dear. You're a vampire, but you never lost connection with your human bloodline. For that, you're not a murderer, a hunter, or a killer. The human in you makes you compassionate, the human in you allows you to have feelings. You're a vampire, Marceline, but you have a human heart."

_You have a human heart._

It made sense. Everything her mother just said made sense within her, and she no longer felt like she was wandering. "Mom," Marceline whispered, "thank you."

Evelyn never stopped smiling. "And you know who you got your human blood from?"

For the first time, the vampire girl smiled. "You, of course."

"That's right." Evelyn kissed her daughter's forehead. "I have to go now. And you have to save your human friend."

"Mom, why does Finn make so much sense to me? Why do I love being around him, why does he make me feel myself?" Marceline asked quickly. The light was starting to disappear. Evelyn was evaporating.

As she started to deteriorate, Evelyn laughed. "Oh Marcy, isn't it obvious? You finally found someone who shares your human heart."

And with that, she was gone, Marceline once again in darkness. But then again, she always preferred the dark. She popped out her fangs. "Time to dance, Ash."

**~X~X~X~**

The dragon's tail sent Marceline flying, and as much as Finn wanted to go after her, he had to stay and fight Ash. He took comfort in the fact his vampire friend was back in her normal body, rather the weak and feeble thirteen year old. Finn didn't want to admit it, but he missed Marceline when she was his age. He was taller than her, stronger than her, but even then, he felt closer to her.

Now he was without a vampire and his best friend partner. But Finn wouldn't be a top adventurer if he couldn't fight all by himself. He had his golden sword in his grip and was swinging at Ash. The dragon circled around them blowing fire, so the two would have to stop clashing and dodge the fiery torrent.

_Maybe the dragon was a poor first choice, _Ash thought to himself. _Oh wells._

Finn came at Ash, swinging acutely with his blade! He was swinging to kill. What would happen if Ash died in the memory core? Who knows. The adventurer wasn't too concerned at this point.

"You know, really, it was Jake who betrayed you, Finny. He's the one who gave Marceline the potion, which allowed me to connect our minds."

"You're such a liar! Jake wouldn't intentionally betray me! You probably tricked him!" Finn yelled.

"Oh really? Jake has a new best friend since you left, Finn! I saw him buddy-buddy with the Ice King."

"Okay, now I know that's a lie. The only best friend the Ice King has his Gunter, and he's a penguin."

"You don't say?"

_He's just trying to distract you. _Finn growled and reared his sword back, throwing it straight at the wizard-vampire! Ash didn't expect him to throw his blade, let alone for it to come at him with exact precision. He grunted as he fell against a tree branch, Finn's sword pinning his arm. No blood had splattered, it took a lot to get a vampire bleed.

More monsters started to come out from Ash's memories. Goblins, witches, three headed dogs, two headed cats, four headed turtles, normal turtles, this big cookie monster, Trolls, and a land walking shark named Dave. Somehow all these acquaintances were mean looking and menacing... that big cookie monster looked like he could make crumbs outta you!

"You know, the people you meet affect the person you are," Finn muttered.

Ash laughed. "Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer."

"Hey, losers!"

The two looked up to see Marceline flying their way! "Marceline, you're okay!" the adventurer exclaimed. "Look out!"

The witches started firing paint bombs, while the trolls and goblins tried to cut down the tree the three were on. Dave was shouting out encouragement. "You can do it, guys! Cut down that tree! Use those muscles! Work them abdominal!"

…

Anyway...

"Ash isn't the only one who can summon memories, Finn," Marceline said. "Come on, weenie! Your job is to fight creatures, let's see how imaginative you are."

Finn smirked, not just at what she said, but at the expression on her stupid ex-boyfriend's face. "Remember when we fought that dimple plant?" he asked her.

She laughed. "Yeah, I remember you refused to slay it with my axe bass, you weenie."

Out of the darkness appeared the dimple plant, ferociously screaming. A couple trolls tried to attack its vines, but the plant quickly devoured the trolls in one bite. "No! Stop it!" Ash exclaimed, in shock that a plant could do this.

"Remember when you had three ghosts over, and they tricked Jake and I into thinking we were vampires? Then when me and Jake went over to their house they were all huge and nasty and wanted to eat us?"

"Oh yeah! Man, you two dorks, that's what you almost get for not listening to me!"

The three ghosts, Wendy, BooBoo, and Georgie appeared. They lashed forward and started to attack the dragon. As much fire as the dragon tried to breathe, it just went through the ghosts, and that was the end of that.

"Hey, remember when you needed a date for that stupid 'couple's only' movie night?" Marceline asked.

Finn made a face. "Yeah! Jake never told me all they would do is make-out!"

"Didn't we unleash a wolf pack on them?"

"Oh yeah! That was so math!" the adventurer laughed. Loud barking sounds appeared and a pack of wolves started running. They ran and attacked, like wolves were instinct to do. That's all it took before every creature Finn and Marceline thought of were fighting the ones Ash thought of. There was just one apparition left... the big cookie monster. "I remember Gunter likes cookie," Finn then said.

A giant memory of Gunter appeared, and the penguin began to viciously eat the giant cookie monster. "Work it like a runway, sweetie!" the Ice King cheered.

"Wait, you never thought of the Ice King," Marceline said, confused by this.

The adventurer shook his head. "That big nerd is always there. Always." He turned to Ash, who had the look of defeat on his face. "Tell us how to get out of here," Finn ordered.

"You think you've won?" was the rasped reply.

"Yeah, I think I have. How do we get out of here?"

At that, the wizard-vampire began to chuckle darkly. "Do you really think Mar-Mar is healed? She's still poisoned."

Marceline bent down to his level and pulled Finn's sword out, making Ash groan in agony. "The only poison," she hissed softly. "Is you." With that said, she stood up, tossed Finn his sword, and held out her pale hand. "Come on Finn. Let's go."

He stared at her incredulously. "Are you sure this is the way?"

She shook her head. "No. Come with me anyway?"

Finn grabbed her hand with his own. His chapped and pink lips turned up into a smile, his black beady eyes shining. "Always."

The two stared at each other for one more moment, then they both jumped into the center of the memory tree, leaving Ash and all the memories of evil behind...

**~X~X~X~**

He opened his eyes and his head is pounding with a lumpin' headache. Then again, he just spent nearly twenty-four hours inside someone's brain, his own head was probably punishing him. _Maybe Jake will make me soul food later. _Finn had to close his eyes and count to a full one-hundred before he was strong enough to get out of bed.

_Wait, bed? Last time Marceline and I were conscious, we were in the middle of town near the fountain. _The adventurer looked around; he was back in his motel room. The room looked the same, except it smelled like a tropical island. The maid must have used carpet cleaner. Nice.

His white hat was tossed on the bed and he ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair. This was real. This was all real. No longer a memory, or a memory of a memory. He stands still for a moment, because his head is spinning and he feels like he's about to fall back in the bed. How long has it been since he's eaten? Drank water? Glob, he feels weak.

After a short pause, he lifts his head up, and turns to his head to the opposite side of the queen bed. There she is. Her hair billows around her like a raven black pillow, her eyelids are shut and are a pale violet color, and her arms are crossed over on her chest. She looks innocent, which is funny, because she's Marceline the Vampire Queen.

The adventurer realizes something he didn't catch at first. He hurries around the bed to the other side and shakes her back and forth! "Marcie, wake up, Marcie!"

She didn't move.

What if Ash wasn't lying? What if she was still poisoned? Twenty-four hours have come and passed. What if it's too late?

"Marcie!" Finn exclaimed. His voice is hoarse from no water. He turned to go get Jake, but a hand grabs his arm and pulls him forward. "Whoa!"

He slams into the Vampire Queen, who's laughing gleefully, her musical laughter filling the air. "You scared me!" the adventurer exclaimed, but he's so happy to hear her laugh, he doesn't care. Now he's happy, too.

"Finn, we did it," Marceline smiled. "We did it!"

Her arms were tightly around his as he was awkwardly on the side of the bed, and she was sitting up and clinging to him. So this was Marceline when she was overjoyed, huh? All huggy and happy? He had never seen this side of her, but he would be lying if he said he didn't love it. Although, Finn couldn't help but think that if Jake walked in the room with them in this current position and out-of-context-scene, things might get... awkward. AWKWARD.

"Hey, let a guy breathe?" he joked.

She loosened her grip on him. "Sorry. I just feel so good! I haven't felt this powerful in a long time, Finn! Watch." Her arm reared back and she punched through the wall. She _punched_ through the wall. "See?"

"Wow, that was cool," Finn awed. "So you really feel alright? You don't feel weak, you don't feel dizzy or anything?"

"No! Why?"

"Um..."

Marceline stopped smiling. "Finn," she said. "What?"

Her eyes now looked at him with worry. He stood up and paced to the front of the bed, while Marceline floated above it. "Marcie..." he stammered. "You can't see your reflection, right?"

"Right."

He reached into his jean's pocket, taking out a picture and handing it to her. It was the paper he first gave her almost a week ago, when he took a picture of her head and glued it on to a little girl's body. She looked at the picture and her face fell. "I'm still thirteen."

Finn didn't know what to say, or if there was anything to say. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I don't know why."

"But... I was back to normal when we left the memory core... I was..." she trailed off, the surprise of it all making it hard to articulate words. "I-I have my vampire powers back. I feel great. I'm not weak. Why am I still the same?"

"Marcie, I wish I knew."

Finn expected the vampire to throw a hiss fit at any minute. He expected her to cry out in rage and tear up the feathery pillows, punch more holes in the walls, break some windows, throw some chairs! Anything and everything, one thing about Marceline, she was unpredictable.

Especially when she _didn't_ do any of those things. Instead, she sat on the edge of the bed, her feet on the carpet, and she remained very still. Her lips were parted, like she almost wanted to say something, but no words came out.

Because of this, Finn had forgotten about his own problems, and getting water was the last thing on his mind. He sat down on his knees and was across from the silent queen, unsure what was going to happen.

"Am I still hardcore?"

Her question was asked so softly that he thought he imagined her asking. But he looked at her and she was staring back at him, expecting him to answer. "Of course," Finn answered quickly. "You're the most hardcore rocker I've ever met, and your age appearance will never change that."

"What if I stay this way forever?"

"A magic potion changed you the first time, Marceline. Another potion could do the same. We may not find this potion now, but we'll find it again." He got to his feet and sat beside her. "Marceline, you could be in the body of a three year old and I'd still think you were the best and the baddest vamps out there."

She gave a small smile. "Would you really? If I was a tiny toddler?"

"Definitely." He smirked, "I probably wouldn't smooch you, though."

Her laughter returned. "Then I guess it's alright... if I'm thirteen. I mean, I've lived my whole life in the body of a teenager. Now I'm a preteen. I'm like you."

"You have to go through puberty. Again."

They both laughed. Marceline then turned towards him and ran a pale hand through his dark blonde hair. "Jake, Beemo, and Ice King are in the other room. I can hear them. Wanna walk in crying and tell them I'm dead? We'll scare the glob outta them."

"I dunno, that's too mean."

"Please? For me?"

Finn grinned. "Okay."

She gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Rad."

**Author's Note: **

**Oh Finn =) You're so amazing! Haha! **

**I'm sorry it's been months since I've updated. My summer has been a big bomb of busy, and I apologize for not finding the time to wrap up this story. You see, I've dedicated my time to my own novel, because it is my dream and goal to become a published author. So whenever anyone reads or reviews my stories, even one that's not my own like Adventure Time, it truly means a lot.**

**If enough people want it, I will make an epilogue to this. I'm musing over if I should, I have a few ideas. But if you think it should be left how it is, that's what I'll do. Open to debate XD So, do you think this should have an epilogue? **

**I want to say thank you again to everyone who's read this story. I'm honored to write Adventure Time and for people to read it =D**

**Lots of love, salmon, parties, gatorade, and catnip (lol wut?) **

**~Luna**


	11. Chapter 11

**Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?**

—**Epilogue—**

**~X~X~X~**

"Hey Jake?"

"Yeah bro?"

"You think you can scooch just a little bit?"

"Ah, I'm comfortable."

"I know man, but my arm is getting squished against my torso."

"Too bad! I didn't see you for one whole day Finn! And in that day I was tortured by that big nerd! So I'm not leaving your side until I can get those awful memories outta me."

"But Jake, that was two weeks ago! We've been home for a long time!"

"Still haunts me Finn. Woof."

The young adventurer released a heavy sigh and tried to shift away from Jake on the couch. However, the magical dog would have none of it, and he scooched with him. Jake was determined to stick to Finn like glue. Like gum on a shoe. Like peanut butter to toast. Like beans in Lumpy Space Princess's digestive tract.

This wasn't the first time Jake went through a clingy stage. When he and Lady Rainicorn had their first major fight he stuck to Finn. In his clingy stages he was more like a dog than anything. Plus, Jake wasn't too happy when Finn busted into the motel living room holding Marceline crying, "SHE DEAD!", only for it to be a prank after.

Finn sighed and rested his chin on his hand, putting his elbow on the couch cushion. "You do know that eventually you'll have to stop snuggling, right?" he asked.

"Shushers," Jake replied.

"I'm sorry the Ice King was so traumatizing, bro. But I mean, better he stuck with you than capture princesses, right?"

A loud growl was the reply.

"Well, it's not like I'm going inside your brain to retrieve the memory of you spending time with Ice King. I'm never going in another creature's brain. Ever. EVER."

Now Jake looked at him seriously. "That's exactly what you need to do."

"What?!" Finn shrieked.

"If you love me, bro, you'll go!"

"No man! That's asking too much!"

"You went inside Marceline's brain!"

"Cause otherwise she'd have died n' stuff!"

"Oh, I've got a bad case of n' stuff, Finn! A baaaaaaaad case of n' stuff!"

"What does that even mean?"

"Exactly!"

There was no reasoning with Jake. Not now, anyway. Usually when Jake was upset, he tended to get over dramatic and made no sense. Add in his clingy stage, and Finn had a real complicated problem on his human hands. There was also another thing Jake did when he was upset...

"Ever notice that Peppermint Butler never talks about his mother? What kind of butler has no relationship with his mother?"

Yeah, whenever Jake was upset, he felt better talking smack about Peppermint Butler. It was completely harmless, the smack that was said about the poor Candy Kingdom worker, but still. Was it really Jake's business if Peppermint Butler discussed with his mama?

"Okay man, it looks like I'm going to have to go to extreme measures to make sure you get past this little bump in our brohood," Finn said. He took out a tiny blue whistle from his pocket, put it to his mouth, and blew in it.

"I didn't hear anything," Jake said.

"Nah man, it's not a dog whistle."

"Then what kind of whistle is it?"

"You'll see." The two sat patiently on their couch. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the front door. "It's open," Finn said.

The door opened and in flew Lady Rainicorn. "BABY-CAKES!" Jake cried. He turned to his bro, "Wait, you have a rainicorn whistle?"

Finn nodded. "Jake, give Finn some space," Lady Rainicorn then said.

"No!"

"Jake. It's almost 4:00. Time to play our violins. You like your violin, don't you?" his girlfriend asked gently.

"...yes."

"Then come on now."

"But I don't wanna leave Finn."

"Now now Jake. Come on. I've got a surprise for you."

"You do?"

"Yup."

Jake ran over to Lady Rainicorn. "What?!" he exclaimed in excitement. She smiled and pulled him into a hug. "This is the best surprise!" he laughed gleefully.

Finn smiled. "Okay, so are we good, buddy? You're through clinging to me and bashing Peppermint Butler?"

The magical dog nodded. "Yes." He turned back to Lady Rainicorn. "Come on sweets, let's go jammin!"

She smiled and the two left the house, off to their secret violin playing spot. For the first time in two weeks, Finn was alone in the house. "Best investment I ever made," he grinned, holding up the rainicorn whistle.

**~X~X~X~**

That night Finn dropped Beemo off at soccer practice and had two hours to kill before he needed to pick him up again. The soccer games were held in the large fresh cut grass field, where Finn and Jake fought those cute little creatures. Even though there were no torches or light fixtures in the field, the moonlight was bright, and there were hundreds of hundreds of fireflies around the skies.

The adventurer had no problem seeing as he trudged through the dark forest. He usually had his backpack slung across his shoulders, in fact, he always had his green backpack with him. But tonight he left his beloved backpack behind, actually, he wasn't even wearing his usual clothes. All Finn wore was a simple white t-shirt, blue jeans, and his white hat that was unstrapped. Blonde locks fell in front of his face but he had grown accustom to that, and no longer bothered to brush back his hair.

"It's just too lumpin' luscious to be contained," LSP had once said.

As weird as that was, she was right. His hair was too lumpin' luscious.

He stopped walking. For one moment, Finn thought he was back in the memories. His mind had been playing tricks on him ever since he got back. There were some moments where he could swear he's still in the memories, but then he realizes that he's in the real world. It's really him standing in the forest, really him surrounded by trees, the moonlight shining down on him is real.

"RUN!"

And the shrilled voice that just sounded off the forest was real, too. Or perhaps it wasn't, but Finn heard it, and his instincts told him that real or not, it would be smart of him to start— running for his life! He took off, and he could feel the tremors beneath his feet. His head snapped around and the adventurer was surprised to see a pack of Why Wolves coming his way!

"Stampede!" Finn cried, and he ran faster!

What was causing these Why Wolves to run like crazy? Well, not that they needed a reason, they were a whack species to begin with. "Hey! There's that Finn kid up ahead!" one cried to the others.

"Let's run him over!"

"Yeah, let's make a Finn pancake!"

_Of all times I left my backpack and sword at home! I'm such a tard! _Finn thought to himself. No matter, he didn't need his sword or backpack to outrun these losers. He just needed— special maneuvers!

He started running left and right, kicking off treetrunks, grabbing tree branches to help his swing! One of the Why Wolves inside the pack must have had a boom box, because awesome music started playing. Finn didn't question the random playing of said music, instead it encouraged him to run faster. He also didn't question why the Why Wolves suddenly had a vendetta against him. It wasn't even the same one he ran into awhile back, it was a whole new pack!

To Finn's thirteen year old horror, he was running out of forest. A cliff was coming and he was familiar enough with it to know it was steep! He had to keep running _and_ think of a plan! Talk about multi-tasking! The wolves had him surrounded, it's not like he could veer left or veer right. They wanted to send him off this cliff. That was that.

"Hey! Why you dudes wanna kill me!" Finn shouted over the awesome music.

"Don't question us!" was a reply.

"Don't ask why!" came another.

"Pretty mama, lemme whispa somethin' in yo ear..."

Finn made a grimaced face. "Shut up, Betty!" a wolf then yelled, probably to the one who just spoke.

The cliff closed in. _Maybe Jake is getting my ESP bro signals and will save me, _Finn thought. _No! I've been through too much to die by jumping off a cliff! I AM GONNA JUMP! And I will live! Because I'm Finn, I'm cute, beat boxin, and AWWWWEEEESOOOOMMMEEEEE!_

Apparently, the adventurer was really good at giving himself pep talks. Especially when those pep talks were to jump off of a cliff. Seriously, how many people can convince themselves to willingly jump off a cliff with Why Wolves chasing them? Serious emphasis on the Why Wolves.

And... off he went.

"Whoa dudes, that human just jump off the cliff all by himself?" one wolf asked the pack.

"Yeah, he did."

"Wow that's extreme."

"We were just going to bring him to the edge and scare him."

"Yeah... we didn't want him to actually die..."

"Alright wolves, time to think of an alibi."

"Wait, he's flying! Someone caught him!"

**~X~X~X~**

Down, down, down. He flipped through the air, his hat somehow staying on his head, the wind encircling him and time passing by in a second. Then, that was all brought to a halt. An abrupt halt that had his head spinning.

He suddenly wasn't twisting and turning through the air, instead he was flying up instead of falling down. "My glob... I've attained supernatural powers!" Finn exclaimed. "Finally, my diary has come true!"

"Finn. Look up."

There was Marceline, the Thirteen Queen, giving Finn in incredulous yet amused look. She would hassle him about the diary later, but for now, that wasn't too important. It was a good thing she had her strength back, because if she was the weak thirteen year old she used to be, holding Finn would be impossible.

"Hey, Marceline," the adventurer smiled. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the Why Wolves... would you?"

She grinned. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, you did!"

Marceline laughed. "Okay, okay, I told them they would have fun chasing you. But I didn't think you'd jump off the cliff. You stupid boy."

He shrugged. "I was prepared to go down in honor."

"That makes no sense."

"Yeah, I know." They both chuckled.

**~X~X~X~**

If you're wondering what Finn and Marceline are, you should know Finn was wondering the same thing a week ago. He didn't know if the vampire was... his girlfriend. And as much as that made him squirm and embarrassed to think about, he did think about it, and he decided he'd like it if she were his girl.

It wasn't the same hesitation when she was an older vampire. Now she was his age, but she was also going to stay that way until another potion was found. Or perhaps, forever. It was all up to her. The most important thing was that he got his Marcie back.

However, Finn knew he had to confront his feelings. If he didn't his emotions would send him into turbulence, and one morning after many years of heartbreak, he'd wake up with a hole in his chest. Literally. At least, these were the stories Jake told him when he was eleven. Now that the adventurer thought about it, Jake could have been lying...

Finn, being Finn, could never talk about the subject of love easily. "So," he had said, drawling out his 'so'. He and Marceline had been drinking strawberry smoothies on the Candy Kingdom roof.

"Just spit it out," she growled.

"Um, okay. So... you."

"Me."

"Yeah. And me."

"You."

"Yeah. Um... are we... like... a boy and girl?"

"Well yeah, you're a boy and I'm a girl. Finn, I thought Jake gave you a book that explained—"

"That's not what I meant! I meant to put 'friend' at the end! Are we boyfriend/girlfriend?!"

Finn didn't mean to shout this particular question, but his nerves got the better of him. He turned a bright pink, and chewed on the straw of his smoothie to calm himself. His companion may look thirteen, but she was still the same Marceline on the inside.

Although, now she showed a side of her that he rarely had seen. She looked at him softly and the expression on her face was anything but teasing. "Ah Finn," Marceline said gently. "You're the most important creature in my world."

She was going to reject him. He knew it. "It's alright," he mumbled, trying not to sound too hurt.

"No. Finn. I want to be close to you, you know that."

He looked up at her. "You do?"

"Yes. But you have to understand, right now my life turned crazy. I don't know what I want to do. I don't know how long I want to stay this way, if I'll find another potion to change me back, if I can age or not. For all we know, five years down the line you're seventeen and I'm seventeen with you. Or, I'm still thirteen. Or, I'm back to being what I used to be. There's a lot of confusion right now."

Finn understood what she was saying, he really did. "Okay," he said, trying to smile. "It's alright Marceline. You know I'm not crazy about relationships n' stuff."

She rested her head against his shoulder. This surprised him, but he enjoyed having her cuddle him. Partly because it was rare! "Don't misunderstand me," the vampire whispered. "When I told you that you were the most important creature to me, I meant it. Living or dead. I don't want to take advantage of your kindness, Finn. You don't have to wait for me."

Surprisingly, the adventurer brought Marceline into a hug, holding her tightly against him. "No. There's no taking advantage," he replied. "I love you, Marcie. And I'll wait. The important thing is that I spend time with you and be with you... no matter what you decide."

If there was ever a time Marceline felt like goop, now was the time. She buried her head into his chest, but decided that wasn't good enough. Slowly, she raised up, and she kissed Finn gently. He returned it, of course, his hands going on either side of her cold cheeks. They kissed each other without worry that anyone would see them. It didn't matter.

And he breaks the kiss, only because he has to breathe. This kissing business wasn't his expertise. "I love you too, weenie," she whispered. "And your breath smells like nachos."

"Peppermint Butler gave me some. I thought the smoothie killed the smell."

"No, Peppermint Butler's nachos are some powerful stuff. That smell will stay for a good week."

"That sucks."

They both laughed.

**~X~X~X~**

—_Present—_

"Hey Beemo. Have a good time at soccer?"

"Oh, yes. The ball was coming at me and I kicked it. Everyone shouted 'goal'! It was fun!"

Finn laughed. "That's good buddy."

"Hey Finn?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is Marceline floating over our heads?"

"Oh, she likes to do that. Want her to pick you up and fly you too?"

"No thanks." Finn shrugged. They needed to get home and eat some dinner. "So, what did you do during my practice?" Beemo asked.

The adventurer smiled. "Oh you know... got chased by Why Wolves, jumped off a cliff, got saved by Marcie, went ghost hunting, tripped down another cliff, got saved by Marcie, ate some fruit snacks. The usual." He grinned.

Beemo just shook his robotic head. "You two can be so weird."

Finn laughed and looked up at the flying Marceline. "You hear that? He thinks we're weird!"

She grinned. "Well duh!"

And the three walked off, ready to continue in their lives, that was sure to be filled with adventure.

**The End. **

Oh wait, some of you might be wondering; whatever happened to the second potion? There were two if you re-read, one was drunk by Marceline, but what became of the other? Well, it turns out, Ice King never lost his other aging potion. It was stolen! By a small, cute, big eyed penguin named— Gunter.

_Inside the Ice Kingdom..._

"Wat wat wat wat!"

"No Gunter, no pudding for you! This is daddy's pudding," Ice King said. "Go to your room."

"Wat wat wat wat wat!"

"Don't argue with me! My underpants are clean! Go!"

Gunter waddled off, going into his icy bedroom. "Wat wat wat." He smiled to himself. "Wat wat wat wat." Yes, having Ice King gone for three days on a quest for a potion HE had was good revenge. Gunter waddled over to his little penguin bed, checking under the pillow. There was the potion. "Wat wat wat wat."

One day. One day.

—**THE END, FOR REAL—**

**Author's Note:**

**And that was this story's epilogue! I hope y'all like it, and thank you so much for reading! I also hope you liked my Gunter twist XD I love that little penguin. So much. Hahaha XD I really appreciate everyone that read and reviewed this story. It means a lot =] **

**For the final time, please review and thank you for reading. **

**Much love and penguins,**

**~Luna**


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